Date |
February 14, 2012 |
Speaker |
Dr. Hiroyuki Ogata, Aix-Marseille University, France
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Title |
Giant viruses in marine environments
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Abstract |
Giant viruses (or "Giruses") are ancient big viruses infecting eukaryotes. Mimivirus infecting
Acanthamoeba is the prototype girus with its large 1.18 Mb-genome encoding more than 1000 genes. In
marine environments, related viruses affect the dynamics of microbial communities and drive carbon and
nutrient cycling by daily infecting and killing a wide range of eukaryotes from primary producers to
grazers. Their genomes are as complex as those of small cells and collectively hold a huge genetic diversity
with much potential for new applications in medicine and industry. Despite recognized importance,
however, the biology of these big viruses is still poorly characterized. We have recently launched an
environmental genome sampling project to study the diversity and ecological significance of giant viruses,
as part of the global ocean microbial project, TARA-OCEANS (1). TARA-OCEANS is an international
project, aiming to characterize the biodiversity and interactions of oceanic plankton - from small viruses,
bacteria, protists to larger multicellular eukaryotes - and to better understand and predict marine
ecosystems. In my talk, I’ll first introduce the wonder world of giant viruses by reviewing recent progress
in this research field. Emphasis will be put on their relevance to marine ecosystems and their fascinating
genetic diversity, along with a recent example of new DNA repair protein subfamilies found in giruses (2).
I’ll then explain our sampling and analysis strategies in the TARA-OCEANS project.
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