National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea, Fisheries Research Agency, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima, Japan.
ISME J. 2012 Jul;6(7):1445-8. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2011.207. Epub 2012 Jan 12.
Diatoms are considered the most successful and widespread group of photosynthetic eukaryotes. Their contribution to primary production is remarkably significant to the earth's ecosystems. Diatoms are composed of two orders: Centrales and Pennales. Thus far, viruses infecting centric diatom species have been isolated and characterized; however, viruses infecting pennates have not been reported. Here, we describe the first isolations and preliminary characterizations of two distinct pennate diatom viruses, AglaRNAV (31 nm in diameter, accumulates in the host cytoplasm) and TnitDNAV (35 nm in diameter, accumulates in the host nuclei) infecting Asterionellopsis glacialis and Thalassionema nitzschioides, respectively. Their genomes contain a single-stranded RNA of approximately 9.5 kb, and a closed, circular single-stranded DNA of approximately 5.5 kb harboring a partially double-stranded region, respectively. Further analysis of these viruses may elucidate many aspects of diatom host-virus relationships.
硅藻被认为是最成功和广泛分布的光合真核生物群体。它们对初级生产的贡献对地球的生态系统具有重要意义。硅藻由两个目组成：中心目和羽纹目。到目前为止，已经分离和鉴定了感染中心硅藻物种的病毒；然而，尚未报道感染羽纹硅藻的病毒。在这里，我们描述了两种不同的羽纹硅藻病毒的首次分离和初步特征，AglaRNAV（直径 31nm，在宿主细胞质中积累）和 TnitDNAV（直径 35nm，在宿主细胞核中积累），分别感染 Asterionellopsis glacialis 和 Thalassionema nitzschioides。它们的基因组分别包含一条约 9.5kb 的单链 RNA 和一条约 5.5kb 的闭合环状单链 DNA，其中包含一个部分双链区域。对这些病毒的进一步分析可能阐明硅藻宿主-病毒关系的许多方面。
