0000000001004160
AUTHOR
Jaana Bamford
Closely Related Archaeal Haloarcula hispanica Icosahedral Viruses HHIV-2 and SH1 Have Nonhomologous Genes Encoding Host Recognition Functions
Studies on viral capsid architectures and coat protein folds have revealed the evolutionary lineages of viruses branching to all three domains of life. A widespread group of icosahedral tailless viruses, the PRD1-adenovirus lineage, was the first to be established. A double -barrel fold for a single major capsid protein is characteristic of these viruses. Similar viruses carrying genes coding for two major capsid proteins with a more complex structure, such as Thermus phage P23-77 and haloarchaeal virus SH1, have been isolated. Here, we studied the host range, life cycle, biochemical composition, and genomic sequence of a new isolate, Haloarcula hispanica icosahedral virus 2 (HHIV-2), which…
The use of phage FCL-2 as an alternative to chemotherapy against columnaris disease in aquaculture
Flavobacterium columnare, the causative agent of columnaris disease in fish, causes millions of dollars of losses in the US channel catfish industry alone, not to mention aquaculture industry worldwide. Novel methods are needed for the control and treatment of bacterial diseases in aquaculture to replace traditionally used chemotherapies. A potential solution could be the use of phages, i.e., bacterial viruses, host-specific and self-enriching particles that can be can easily distributed via water flow. We examined the efficacy of phages to combat columnaris disease. A previously isolated phage, FCL-2, infecting F. columnare, was characterized by sequencing. The 47 142 bp genome of the phag…
Subcellular localization of bacteriophage PRD1 proteins in Escherichia coli
Bacteria possess an intricate internal organization resembling that of the eukaryotes. The complexity is especially prominent at the bacterial cell poles, which are also known to be the preferable sites for some bacteriophages to infect. Bacteriophage PRD1 is a well-known model serving as an ideal system to study structures and functions of icosahedral internal membrane-containing viruses. Our aim was to analyze the localization and interactions of individual PRD1 proteins in its native host Escherichia coli. This was accomplished by constructing a vector library for production of fluorescent fusion proteins. Analysis of solubility and multimericity of the fusion proteins, as well as their …
Viruses and Life: Can There Be One Without the Other?
Viruses are omnipresent, genetically replicating parasites in our biosphere that affect and drive the evolution of life in various ways. Are viruses an inevitable feature of all naturally emerged (although hypothetical) living systems in the Universe or are they only a specialty of our life on Earth? We argue in this discussion that viruses indeed might be present in extraterrestrial, independently emerged biospheres, at least if the process of the origin of life was similar to that on Earth. Viruses are likely to have played important roles in the evolution of early life and thus their presence or absence could dictate the direction of the evolution of life in all living systems. peerRevie…