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Incomplete tricarboxylic acid cycle and proton gradient in Pandoravirus massiliensis: is it still a virus?
,
Lucile Pinault ,
Jean-Pierre Baudoin,
Philippe Decloquement,
Jonatas Abrahao,
Philippe Colson,
Anthony Levasseur,
David Lamb ,
Eric Chabriere,
Didier Raoult ,
Bernard La Scola
The ISME Journal, Volume: 16, Issue: 3, Pages: 695 - 704
Swansea University Author:
David Lamb
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DOI (Published version): 10.1038/s41396-021-01117-3
Abstract
The discovery of Acanthamoeba polyphaga Mimivirus, the first isolated giant virus of amoeba, challenged the historical hallmarks defining a virus. Giant virion sizes are known to reach up to 2.3µm, making them visible by optical microscopy. Their large genome sizes of up to 2.5Mb can encode proteins...
| Published in: | The ISME Journal |
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| ISSN: | 1751-7362 1751-7370 |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2022
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57909 |
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| Abstract: |
The discovery of Acanthamoeba polyphaga Mimivirus, the first isolated giant virus of amoeba, challenged the historical hallmarks defining a virus. Giant virion sizes are known to reach up to 2.3µm, making them visible by optical microscopy. Their large genome sizes of up to 2.5Mb can encode proteins involved in the translation apparatus. We have investigated possible energy production in Pandoravirus massiliensis. Mitochondrial membrane markers allowed for the detection of a membrane potential in purified virions and this was enhanced by a regulator of the tricarboxylic acid cycle but abolished by the use of a depolarizing agent. Bioinformatics was employed to identify enzymes involved in virion proton gradient generation and this approach revealed that 8 putative P. massiliensis proteins exhibited low sequence identities with known cellular enzymes involved in the universal tricarboxylic acid cycle. Further, all 8 viral genes were transcribed during replication. The product of one of these genes, ORF132, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli, and shown to function as an isocitrate dehydrogenase, a key enzyme of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Our findings show for the first time that a membrane potential can exist in Pandoraviruses, and this may be related to tricarboxylic acid cycle. The presence of a proton gradient in P. massiliensis makes this virus a form of life for which it is legitimate to ask the question ‘what is a virus?’. |
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| Keywords: |
giant viruses; Pandoravirus; energy metabolism; ATP production; Lipman 25 system; tricarboxylic acid cycle |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
| Funders: |
This work was supported by the French Government under the “Investments for the Future” program managed by the National Agency for Research (ANR), MéditerranéeInfection 10-IAHU-03. It was also supported by Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and European funding FEDER PRIMMI (Fonds Européen de Développement Régional— Plateformes de Recherche et d’Innovation Mutualisées Méditerranée Infection). |
| Issue: |
3 |
| Start Page: |
695 |
| End Page: |
704 |