Titel
A giant virus infecting the amoeboflagellate Naegleria
Vincent Delafont
Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions Laboratory (EBI), Microorganisms, hosts & environments team, Université de Poitiers, UMR CNRS
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Abstract
Giant viruses (Nucleocytoviricota) are significant lethality agents of various eukaryotic hosts. Although metagenomics indicates their ubiquitous distribution, available giant virus isolates are restricted to a very small number of protist and algal hosts. Here we report on the first viral isolate that replicates in the amoeboflagellate Naegleria. This genus comprises the notorious human pathogen Naegleria fowleri, the causative agent of the rare but fatal primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. We have elucidated the structure and infection cycle of this giant virus, Catovirus naegleriensis (a.k.a. Naegleriavirus, NiV), and show its unique adaptations to its Naegleria host using fluorescence in situ hybridization, electron microscopy, genomics, and proteomics. Naegleriavirus is only the fourth isolate of the highly diverse subfamily Klosneuvirinae, and like its relatives the NiV genome contains a large number of translation genes, but lacks transfer RNAs (tRNAs). NiV has acquired genes from its Naegleria host, which code for heat shock proteins and apoptosis inhibiting factors, presumably for host interactions. Notably, NiV infection was lethal to all Naegleria species tested, including the human pathogen N. fowleri. This study expands our experimental framework for investigating giant viruses and may help to better understand the basic biology of the human pathogen N. fowleri.
Stichwort
Parasitic infectionVirology
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
Erschienen in
Titel
Nature Communications
Band
15
ISSN
2041-1723
Erscheinungsdatum
2024
Publication
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Erscheinungsdatum
2024
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
© The Author(s) 2024
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