National Institute of Pharmaceuticals Education and Research, 168, Maniktala Main Road, Kolkata, PIN-700054, West Bengal, India.
Pathog Dis. 2021 Oct 23;79(8). doi: 10.1093/femspd/ftab049.
The fascinating discovery of the first giant virus, Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (APMV), belonging to the family Mimiviridae in 2008, and its associated virophage, Sputnik, have left the world of microbiology awestruck. To date, about 18 virophages have been isolated from different environmental sources. With their unique feature of resisting host cell infection and lysis by giant viruses, analogous to bacteriophage, they have been assigned under the family Lavidaviridae. Genome of T-27, icosahedral-shaped, non-enveloped virophages, consist of dsDNA encoding four proteins, namely, major capsid protein, minor capsid protein, ATPase and cysteine protease, which are essential in the formation and assembly of new virophage particles during replication. A few virophage genomes have been observed to contain additional sequences like PolB, ZnR and S3H. Another interesting characteristic of virophage is that Mimivirus lineage A is immune to infection by the Zamilon virophage through a phenomenon termed MIMIVIRE, resembling the CRISPR-Cas mechanism in bacteria. Based on the fact that giant viruses have been found in clinical samples of hospital-acquired pneumonia and rheumatoid arthritis patients, virophages have opened a novel era in the search for cures of various diseases. This article aims to study the prospective role of virophages in the future of human therapeutics.
2008 年，人们首次发现了巨型病毒——多噬棘阿米巴噬菌体（Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus，APMV），属于 mimiviridae 科，其伴随的噬病毒体“斯普特尼克”（Sputnik）令微生物学界大为震惊。迄今为止，已从不同的环境来源中分离出约 18 种噬病毒体。它们具有抵抗巨型病毒感染和裂解宿主细胞的独特特性，类似于噬菌体，被归类于 lavidaviridae 科。T-27 是一种二十面体、无包膜的噬病毒体，其基因组为 dsDNA，编码四个蛋白：主要衣壳蛋白、次要衣壳蛋白、ATP 酶和半胱氨酸蛋白酶。这些蛋白在复制过程中对于新噬病毒粒子的形成和组装是必不可少的。一些噬病毒体基因组中还观察到含有其他序列，如 PolB、ZnR 和 S3H。噬病毒体的另一个有趣特征是，巨病毒谱系 A 对 Zamilon 噬病毒体的感染具有免疫性，这一现象被称为“MIMIVIRE”，类似于细菌中的 CRISPR-Cas 机制。鉴于巨型病毒已在医院获得性肺炎和类风湿关节炎患者的临床样本中被发现，噬病毒体为各种疾病的治疗开辟了一个新的时代。本文旨在研究噬病毒体在未来人类治疗中的潜在作用。
