Abstract
Chloroviruses infect their hosts by specifically binding to and degrading the cell wall of their algal hosts at the site of attachment, using an intrinsic digesting enzyme(s). Chlorovirus PBCV-1 stored as a lysate survived longer than virus alone, suggesting virus attachment to cellular debris may be reversible. Ghost cells (algal cells extracted with methanol) were used as a model to study reversibility of PBCV-1 attachment because ghost cells are as susceptible to attachment and wall digestion as are live cells. Reversibility of attachment to ghost cells was examined by releasing attached virions with a cell wall degrading enzyme extract. The majority of the released virions retained infectivity even after re-incubating the released virions with ghost cells two times. Thus the chloroviruses appear to have a dynamic attachment strategy that may be beneficial in indigenous environments where cell wall debris can act as a refuge until appropriate host cells are available.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 95-102 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Virology |
Volume | 466-467 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 1 2014 |
Keywords
- Cell wall degrading enzyme activity
- Cell wall digestion
- Chlorella
- Chloroviruses
- PBCV-1
- Phycodnaviridae
- Reversibility of virus attachment
- Virus attachment
- Virus infection
- Virus survival
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Virology