Viruses infecting marine picoplancton encode functional potassium ion channels
Phycodnaviruses are dsDNA viruses, which infect algae. Their large genomes encode many gene products, like small K+channels, with homologs in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Screening for K+channels revealed their abundance in viruses from fresh-water habitats. Recent sequencing of viruses from marine a...
Published in: | Virology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Academic Press Inc.
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2434/585472 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2014.05.002 |
Summary: | Phycodnaviruses are dsDNA viruses, which infect algae. Their large genomes encode many gene products, like small K+channels, with homologs in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Screening for K+channels revealed their abundance in viruses from fresh-water habitats. Recent sequencing of viruses from marine algae or from salt water in Antarctica revealed sequences with the predicted characteristics of K+channels but with some unexpected features. Two genes encode either 78 or 79 amino acid proteins, which are the smallest known K+channels. Also of interest is an unusual sequence in the canonical α-helixes in K+channels. Structural prediction algorithms indicate that the new channels have the conserved α-helix folds but the algorithms failed to identify the expected transmembrane domains flanking the K+channel pores. In spite of these unexpected properties electophysiological studies confirmed that the new proteins are functional K+channels. |
---|