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Items tagged with: viruses
Single-particle genomics uncovers abundant non-canonical marine viruses from nanolitre volumes
nature.com/articles/s41564-025…
#viruses #SingleCell #marine #ocean
Single-particle genomics uncovers abundant non-canonical marine viruses from nanolitre volumes - Nature Microbiology
Environmental micro-compartment genomics provides efficient and high-throughput single-particle DNA sequencing that captures overlooked members of microbial communities.Nature
Taxonomic expansion and reorganization of Flaviviridae
nature.com/articles/s41564-025…
Taxonomic expansion and reorganization of Flaviviridae - Nature Microbiology
Analysis of RNA polymerase hallmark gene phylogenies supported by protein structure relationships of flaviviruses and ‘flavi-like’ viruses underpins the taxonomic expansion and reorganization of Flaviviridae.Nature
Giant virus genomes are unlikely to be reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes
nature.com/articles/s41467-025…
#viruses #microbiology #antibiotics
Giant virus genomes are unlikely to be reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes - Nature Communications
Nature Communications - Giant virus genomes are unlikely to be reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genesNature
I was very fortunate to collaborate with Jonatas Abrahao on this study, in which his group discovered a novel giant virus with remarkable morphology!
Few giant viruses with a tail have been characterized so far, but recent findings suggest that these structures may be more common than previously thought.
Naiavirus: an enveloped giant virus with a pleomorphic, flexible tail
nature.com/articles/s41467-025…
#viruses #virology #microbiology #science
Naiavirus: an enveloped giant virus with a pleomorphic, flexible tail - Nature Communications
Rodrigues and Queiroz et al. report the discovery of Naiavirus, the largest enveloped virus, isolated from a Brazil biome.Nature
For the giant virus and Euglena fans out there:
Giant endogenous viral elements in the genome of the model protist Euglena gracilis reveal past interactions with giant viruses
Very cool new giant virus!
A dinoflagellate-infecting giant virus with a micron-length tail
Expansion of the genomic and functional diversity of global ocean giant viruses
nature.com/articles/s44298-025…
#viruses #oceanography #marine #microbiology
Expansion of the genomic and functional diversity of global ocean giant viruses - npj Viruses
npj Viruses - Expansion of the genomic and functional diversity of global ocean giant virusesNature
A deep dive into giant viruses
nature.com/articles/s44298-025…
A deep dive into giant viruses - npj Viruses
Giant viruses are a complex and diverse group infecting organisms from unicellular eukaryotes to animals.Nature
Viruses that roam the fungal kingdom knowablemagazine.org/content/a…
"today, scientists researching fungal #viruses are enjoying a golden age of discovery... finding all sorts of weird and wonderful interactions between #fungi and their viruses and even between fungal viruses and #plants or #animals. Most fungal viruses don’t seem to do much of anything to their hosts, but others cause sickness or offer surprising benefits."
Giant viruses integrate into the genomes of money protists. Our latest study adds the model protist Euglena to the list
"Giant endogenous viral elements in the genome of the model protist Euglena gracilis reveal past interactions with giant viruses"
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20…
#viruses #protists #microbiology #genomics
Giant endogenous viral elements in the genome of the model protist Euglena gracilis reveal past interactions with giant viruses
Giant viruses in the phylum Nucleocytoviricota have increasingly been found integrated into the genomes of diverse eukaryotes. Here we report 8 Giant Endogenous Viral Elements (GEVEs) in the genome of the microalgae Euglena gracilis.bioRxiv
Video and article from our lab about our latest giant virus paper
"Researchers discover large dormant virus can be reactivated in model green alga"
news.vt.edu/articles/2025/04/r…
And link to original paper
science.org/stoken/author-toke…
#viruses #science #virology #microbes
Researchers discover large dormant virus can be reactivated in model green alga
Frank Aylward and Maria Paula Erazo Garcia discovered the largest virus ever recorded with a latent infection cycle in the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardti. Their findings were published in Science.news.vt.edu
We found a really cool giant virus inside the genome of a green alga, and it has a very strange infection cycle that is hard to detect.
There are reports going back decades of viral particles spontaneously appearing in pure cultures of green algae, so this phenomenon seems quite common but mostly overlooked.
Sustained in situ protein production and release in the mammalian gut by an engineered bacteriophage
nature.com/articles/s41587-025…
Sustained in situ protein production and release in the mammalian gut by an engineered bacteriophage - Nature Biotechnology
Biologics are delivered to the gut using phage that infects resident commensal bacteria.Nature
#viruses #virology #evolution #facultyhiring #academicjobs
Giant virus encodes key piece of protein-making machinery of cellular life
"Viruses are integral to the functioning of ocean ecosystems, influencing biological productivity, shifting community interactions, and driving evolutionary change,"
phys.org/news/2024-12-giant-vi…
#viruses #microbiology #GiantViruses #protists
Giant virus encodes key piece of protein-making machinery of cellular life
Researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa have discovered that a virus, FloV-SA2, encodes one of the proteins needed to make ribosomes, the central engines in all cells that translate genetic information into proteins, the building blocks of …Marcie Grabowski (Phys.org)
Virus snowflakes from the lab holiday party. T4 and mimivirus are the best, of course.
#holidays #viruses #snowflakes
We have a new preprint describing a method for #bacteriophage phylogenetics and comparative genomics.
Maybe useful for those interested in all the amazing #phages out there and their bizarre mosaic genomes
Towards a unifying phylogenomic framework for tailed phages
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20…
Towards a unifying phylogenomic framework for tailed phages
Background Classifying viruses systematically has remained a key challenge of virology due to the absence of universal genes and vast genetic diversity of viruses.bioRxiv
Very nice study from Henshaw et al shows that #marine heterotrophic bacteria can sense and move towards cyanobacteria when the latter are infected with #viruses.
Presumably the signatures of early infection are a sign that nutrients from a lysed cell will be available soon.
This is a nice study that has implications for understanding the role of viruses in the #ocean.
Article here:
nature.com/articles/s41564-024…
And we wrote a commentary here:
nature.com/articles/s41564-024…
Metabolites from intact phage-infected Synechococcus chemotactically attract heterotrophic marine bacteria - Nature Microbiology
The authors use time-resolved metabolomics and microfluidics to characterize enhanced heterotroph chemoattraction to metabolites released from cyanobacteria during early stages of phage infection.Nature
Metabolites from intact phage-infected Synechococcus chemotactically attract heterotrophic marine bacteria
nature.com/articles/s41564-024…
Metabolites from intact phage-infected Synechococcus chemotactically attract heterotrophic marine bacteria - Nature Microbiology
The authors use time-resolved metabolomics and microfluidics to characterize enhanced heterotroph chemoattraction to metabolites released from cyanobacteria during early stages of phage infection.Nature
New #ISEPpapers #preprint! Viral infection to the raphidophycean alga #Heterosigma akashiwo affects both intracellular organic matter composition and dynamics of a coastal prokaryotic community biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20…
#protists #algae #viruses #microbes #biology
Viral infection to the raphidophycean alga Heterosigma akashiwo affects both intracellular organic matter composition and dynamics of a coastal prokaryotic community
Marine microalgae play a crucial role in marine ecosystem by supplying dissolved organic matter to heterotrophic prokaryotes, which mediate the microbial loop.bioRxiv
Hunting down giant viruses that attack tiny algae
phys.org/news/2024-09-giant-vi…
Hunting down giant viruses that attack tiny algae
They were said to come from outer space, and there were even claims that they were actually bacteria and that they undermined the very definition of viruses.Weizmann Institute of Science (Phys.org)
We found a really big active endogenous virus
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20…
Latent infection of an active giant endogenous virus in a unicellular green alga
Latency is a common strategy in a wide range of viral lineages, but its prevalence in giant viruses remains unknown.bioRxiv
The diel disconnect between cell growth and division in Aureococcus is interrupted by giant virus infection
frontiersin.org/journals/micro…
Frontiers | The diel disconnect between cell growth and division in Aureococcus is interrupted by giant virus infection
Viruses of eukaryotic algae have become an important research focus due to their role(s) in nutrient cycling and top-down control of algal blooms. Omics-base...Frontiers
Genomic analyses of Symbiomonas scintillans show no evidence for endosymbiotic bacteria but does reveal the presence of giant viruses
Author summary Endosymbiotic bacteria are found in a wide variety of hosts across the tree of eukaryotes and have been proposed to be evolutionarily and ecologically significant, but in most cases, we know little to nothing about them.journals.plos.org
The virus, called #H5N1, has infected #cows in at least 36 #herds in nine states, raising fears that #milk could be infectious — concerns now largely put to rest — and highlighting the risk that many #viruses might jump across species on crowded #farms.
A #genetic analysis sheds light on when the #outbreak began, how the virus spread and where it may be going.
nytimes.com/2024/05/03/health/…
archive.ph/8sQTX
Giant viral signatures on the Greenland ice sheet
doi.org/10.1186/s40168-024-017…
Giant viral signatures on the Greenland ice sheet - Microbiome
Background Dark pigmented snow and glacier ice algae on glaciers and ice sheets contribute to accelerating melt. The biological controls on these algae, particularly the role of viruses, remain poorly understood.BioMed Central
Widespread occurrence and diverse origins of polintoviruses influence lineage-specific genome dynamics in stony corals
academic.oup.com/ve/advance-ar…
#viruses #coral #evolution #genomics
Widespread occurrence and diverse origins of polintoviruses influence lineage-specific genome dynamics in stony corals
Abstract:. Stony corals (Order Scleractinia) are central to vital marine habitats known as coral reefs. Numerous stressors in the Anthropocene are contribuStephens, Danae (Oxford University Press)
Globally occurring pelagiphage infections create ribosome-deprived cells
nature.com/articles/s41467-024…
Globally occurring pelagiphage infections create ribosome-deprived cells - Nature Communications
SAR11 bacteria and their phages are abundant in the oceans. Here the authors quantify the number of phage-infected SAR11 cells using microscopy techniques and discover phage-infected cells without any detectable ribosomes.Nature
"A retroviral link to vertebrate myelination through retrotransposon-RNA-mediated control of myelin gene expression"
cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8…
I have great exaptations for this article
A giant virus infecting the amoeboflagellate Naegleria
nature.com/articles/s41467-024…
#viruses #giantViruses #microbiology
A giant virus infecting the amoeboflagellate Naegleria - Nature Communications
This is the first report on a virus infecting the amoeboflagellate Naegleria, including the lethal human pathogen N. fowleri.Nature
Happy to share the latest manuscript from our lab, in which we propose that eukaryotes evolved from a genomic chimera of Asgard archaea and giant viruses.
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/20…
This is a controversial topic, but we believe we have strong evidence to suggest a critical viral role in eukaryogenesis.
#viruses #protists #eukaryotes #evolution #TreeOfLIfe #archaea
Chimeric Origin of Eukaryotes from Asgard Archaea and Ancestral Giant Viruses
The details surrounding the evolution of complex cells remain some of the most enduring mysteries in biology.bioRxiv
Hot springs viruses at Yellowstone National Park have ancient origins and are adapted to thermophilic hosts
nature.com/articles/s42003-024…
#viruses #virology #extremophiles
Hot springs viruses at Yellowstone National Park have ancient origins and are adapted to thermophilic hosts - Communications Biology
Analysis of the virus community associated with red algal mats in Yellowstone National Park shows it to be dominated by Megaviricetes, with resident virus lineages being of ancient origin and encoding genomic footprints of adaptation to thermophily.Nature
Viruses Finally Reveal Their Complex Social Life
quantamagazine.org/viruses-fin… by @Carl_Zimmer
Open questions in the social lives of viruses academic.oup.com/jeb/article/3…
"New research has uncovered a social world of #viruses full of cheating, cooperation and other intrigues, suggesting that viruses make sense only as members of a community."
Open questions in the social lives of viruses
Abstract. Social interactions among viruses occur whenever multiple viral genomes infect the same cells, hosts, or populations of hosts. Viral social interLeeks, Asher (Oxford University Press)
Who are giant viruses infecting in the ocean?
In a collaborative paper with the Vardi lab, we were able to link many giant virus lineages to protist hosts using #SingleCell #RNASeq. One #protist host (leucocryptos) made up less than 1% of the community, but we could still identify a cryptic viral lineage infecting it, leading to population collapse.
nature.com/articles/s41564-024…
#marine #viruses #microbiology
Single-cell RNA-seq of the rare virosphere reveals the native hosts of giant viruses in the marine environment - Nature Microbiology
Active infections of giant viruses in their marine protists hosts are tracked at single-cell resolution, showing that, despite being rare, these viruses still impact microbial population dynamics.Nature
Our latest commentary about a cool recent paper on virophage-mediated defense against giant #viruses!
March of the proviruses
Nice paper examining virophage-mediated antiviral defense in protists!
Endogenous virophages are active and mitigate giant virus infection in the marine protist Cafeteria burkhardae
The Simons Foundation has amazing #postdoc #fellowships for anyone interested in #marine microbial #ecology or #evolution.
I'd love to sponsor anyone interested in viral diversity!
Please spread the word!
simonsfoundation.org/grant/sim…
Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Marine Microbial Ecology | Simons Foundation
The Simons Foundation invites applications for postdoctoral fellowships to support candidates who intend to pursue a career in basic research on fundamental problems in marine microbial ecology, with an emphasis on understanding the role of microorga…Simons Foundation
Large language models improve annotation of prokaryotic viral proteins
nature.com/articles/s41564-023…
#virology #viruses #bioinformatics #genomics
Large language models improve annotation of prokaryotic viral proteins - Nature Microbiology
Ocean viral proteome annotations are expanded by a machine learning approach that is not reliant on sequence homology and can annotate sequences not homologous to those seen in training.Nature