The intriguing world of archaeal viruses

Wirth, Jennifer; Young, Mark

doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1008574

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…Viruses of Archaea—as they have been reported in deep granitic groundwater [11]— are some of the least understood groups of viruses with unique morphologies compared to eukaryotic viruses or bacteriophages [12,13] (also reviewed in [14]). Knowledge on Altiarchaeota and their viruses has mainly been gained from the uncultivated genus Candidatus Altiarchaeum with the best studied representative Ca .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virus-host dynamics in archaeal groundwater biofilms and the associated bacterial community composition

Turzynski

Griesdorn

Moraru

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Lytic viruses can be prevalent in deep groundwater, yet their spatial and temporal distribution in such an ecosystem remains unexplored. Here, we tackle this gap of knowledge by studying viral infections in individual, archaea-dominated biofilm flocks sampled from deep anoxic groundwater over a period of three years. Using virusFISH whose detection efficiency for individual viral particles was 15%, we show a significant and steady increase of virus infections between the years 2019 and 2022. Based on various fluorescence micrographs of individual biofilm flocks, we determined different stages of viral infections in biofilms for single sampling events, demonstrating the progression of infection of biofilms in deep groundwater. Biofilms associated with many host cells undergoing lysis showed a substantial accumulation of filamentous microbes around infected cells probably feeding off host cell debris. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing across ten individual biofilm flocks from one sampling event, we determined that the associated bacterial community remains relatively constant and was dominated by Desulfobacterota. Given the stability of the virus-host interaction in these deep groundwater samples, we postulate that the virus-host dynamics of Ca. Altiarchaeum hamiconexum and its abundant virus Altivir_1_MSI described herein represent a suitable model system for studying deep biosphere virus-host interactions in future research endeavors.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virus-host dynamics in archaeal groundwater biofilms and the associated bacterial community composition

Turzynski

Griesdorn

Moraru

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Despite the recent progress in exploring the archaeal virome (Iranzo et al, 2016; Munson‐McGee et al, 2018; Prangishvili et al, 2017; Wirth & Young, 2020), our understanding on the extent of archaeal virus diversity in marine ecosystems remains minuscule, especially when compared to that available for bacterial counterparts. In a previous metaviromic study of the surface water of the East China Sea (ECS), 172 sequencing reads were confidently matched to an uncultured marine thaumarchaeal dsDNA virus and a magrovirus (Wu et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverse viruses of marine archaea discovered using metagenomics

Zhou

Yan

et al. 2022

Environmental Microbiology

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During the past decade, metagenomics became a method of choice for the discovery of novel viruses. However, host assignment for uncultured viruses remains challenging, especially for archaeal viruses, which are grossly undersampled compared to viruses of bacteria and eukaryotes. Here, we assessed the utility of CRISPR spacer targeting, tRNA gene matching and homology searches for viral signature proteins, such as major capsid proteins, for the assignment of archaeal hosts and validated these approaches on metaviromes from Yangshan Harbor (YSH). We report 35 new genomes of viruses which could be confidently assigned to hosts representing diverse lineages of marine archaea. We show that the archaeal YSH virome is highly diverse, with some viruses enriching the previously described virus groups, such as magroviruses of Marine Group II Archaea (Poseidoniales), and others representing novel groups of marine archaeal viruses. Metagenomic recruitment of Tara Oceans datasets on the YSH viral genomes demonstrated the presence of YSH Poseidoniales and Nitrososphaeria viruses in the global oceans, but also revealed the endemic YSH‐specific viral lineages. Furthermore, our results highlight the relationship between the soil and marine thaumarchaeal viruses. We propose three new families within the class Caudoviricetes for the classification of the five complete viral genomes predicted to replicate in marine Poseidoniales and Nitrososphaeria, two ecologically important and widespread archaeal groups. This study illustrates the utility of viral metagenomics in exploring the archaeal virome and provides new insights into the diversity, distribution and evolution of marine archaeal viruses.

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“…Among the morphologically unique archaeal viruses, spindle-shaped viruses are found in archaea inhabiting acidic hot springs, hypersaline, and marine environments ( 6 ). Sulfolobus spindle-shaped viruses (SSVs) of the family Fuselloviridae , which infect hyperthermophilic archaea of Sulfolobales in hot springs, are among the most widespread and best characterized archaeal viruses ( 7 ). Fuselloviruses are divided into two genera (i.e., Alphafusellovirus and Betafusellovirus ), which are similar in capsid shell but differ distinctly in tail structure ( 8 ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Structural insights into a spindle-shaped archaeal virus with a sevenfold symmetrical tail

Han

Yuan

Xiao

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Archaeal viruses with a spindle-shaped virion are abundant and widespread in extremely diverse environments. However, efforts to obtain the high-resolution structure of a spindle-shaped virus have been unsuccessful. Here, we present the structure of SSV19, a spindle-shaped virus infecting the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus sp. E11-6. Our near-atomic structure reveals an unusual sevenfold symmetrical virus tail consisting of the tailspike, nozzle, and adaptor proteins. The spindle-shaped capsid shell is formed by seven left-handed helical strands, constructed of the hydrophobic major capsid protein, emanating from the highly glycosylated tail assembly. Sliding between adjacent strands is responsible for the variation of a virion in size. Ultrathin sections of the SSV19-infected cells show that SSV19 virions adsorb to the host cell membrane through the tail after penetrating the S-layer. The tailspike harbors a putative endo-mannanase domain, which shares structural similarity to a Bacteroides thetaiotaomicro endo-mannanase. Molecules of glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether lipid were observed in hydrophobic clefts between the tail and the capsid shell. The nozzle protein resembles the stem and clip domains of the portals of herpesviruses and bacteriophages, implying an evolutionary relationship among the archaeal, bacterial, and eukaryotic viruses.

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The intriguing world of archaeal viruses

Cited by 19 publications

References 19 publications

Virus-host dynamics in archaeal groundwater biofilms and the associated bacterial community composition

Virus-host dynamics in archaeal groundwater biofilms and the associated bacterial community composition

Diverse viruses of marine archaea discovered using metagenomics

Structural insights into a spindle-shaped archaeal virus with a sevenfold symmetrical tail

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