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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Siotto, Fenja, Martin, Corinna, Rauh, Oliver, Van Etten, James L., Schroeder, Indra, Moroni, Anna, Thiel, Gerhard
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 2014
Subjects:
K+ channel evolution
Kcv
Chlorella viruses
Algal viruses
Virus evolution
Genetics and Genomics
Life Sciences
Plant Pathology
Viruses
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vanetten/18
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/vanetten/article/1018/viewcontent/Siotto_VIROLOGY_2014_Viruses_infecting_marine__DC_VERSION.pdf
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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.

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