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A strange family, or how a new pleolipovirus reveals its friends and relatives
Author(s) -
DyallSmith Mike,
Porter Kate
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/mmi.13212
Subject(s) - biology , genome , genetics , virus , provirus , gene
Summary A new virus of halophilic A rchaea is reported by L iu et al ., and is remarkable in many ways. SNJ 2 is the first temperate, pleomorphic virus (pleolipovirus) that integrates into the genome of its host. Analyses of the virus structure and its genome have provided an unexpected puzzle while at the same time solving another. On the one hand, the study shows a curious relationship exists between SNJ 2 and an unrelated provirus ( SNJ 1) found as a plasmid in the same cell. The presence of SNJ 1 appears to allow much higher levels of SNJ 2 virus to be produced, although the mechanism involved remains unclear. On the other hand, the curious occurrence of a conserved cluster of pleolipovirus‐related genes found widely distributed among haloarchaeal genomes and known for almost 10 years, now appears to correspond to SNJ 2‐related proviruses.