The giant Cafeteria roenbergensis virus that infects a widespread marine phagocytic protist is a new member of the fourth domain of Life.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A recent work has provided strong arguments in favor of a fourth domain of Life composed of nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs). This hypothesis was supported by phylogenetic and phyletic analyses based on a common set of proteins conserved in Eukarya, Archaea, Bacteria, and viruses, and implicated in the functions of information storage and processing. Recently, the genome of a new NCLDV, Cafeteria roenbergensis virus (CroV), was released. The present work aimed to determine if CroV supports the fourth domain of Life hypothesis.

Methods

A consensus phylogenetic tree of NCLDVs including CroV was generated from a concatenated alignment of four universal proteins of NCLDVs. Some features of the gene complement of CroV and its distribution along the genome

SUBMITTER: Colson P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3084725 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature