Department of Safety, Chemistry and Biomedical Laboratory Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5528 Haugesund, Norway.
Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55108, USA.
Viruses. 2023 Nov 28;15(12):2331. doi: 10.3390/v15122331.
Phaeoviruses () are large icosahedral viruses in the phylum Nucleocytoviricota with dsDNA genomes ranging from 160 to 560 kb, infecting multicellular brown algae (Phaeophyceae). The phaeoviral host range is broader than expected, not only infecting algae from the Ectocarpales but also from the Laminariales order. However, despite phaeoviral infections being reported globally, Norwegian kelp species have not been screened. A molecular analysis of cultured and wild samples of two economically important kelp species in Norway ( and ) revealed that phaeoviruses are recurrently present along the Norwegian coast. We found the viral prevalence in to be significantly higher at the present time compared to four years ago. We also observed regional differences within older samples, in which infections were significantly lower in northern areas than in the south or the fjords. Moreover, up to three different viral sequences were found in the same algal individual, one of which does not belong to the genus and has never been reported before. This master variant therefore represents a putative new member of an unclassified phycodnavirus genus.
Phaeoviruses 是一种有囊膜的二十面体病毒，属于核质生物域的双股 DNA 病毒，基因组大小为 160-560kb，主要感染多细胞褐藻（褐藻门）。与预期相反，该病毒的宿主范围较广，不仅感染来自外生囊群目（Ectocarpales）的藻类，还感染来自海带目（Laminariales）的藻类。然而，尽管全球范围内都有报道称褐藻受到了该病毒的感染，但尚未对挪威的大型褐藻进行过筛查。通过对挪威两种重要经济褐藻（ 和 ）的养殖和野生样本进行分子分析，发现病毒在整个挪威沿海地区反复出现。我们发现，与四年前相比， 的病毒流行率目前显著更高。我们还观察到，在较旧的样本中存在区域性差异，与南部或峡湾相比，北部地区的感染率显著较低。此外，在同一藻类个体中发现了多达三种不同的病毒序列，其中一种不属于 属，以前从未报道过。因此，这种主要变体代表了一个未分类的藻类 DNA 病毒属的一个假定新成员。
