Pilot study of an EST approach of the coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi during a virus infection.
Blooms of the coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi can be infected by viruses, which can lead to bloom-termination. This pilot study used an expressed sequence tag (EST) approach to get a first view of gene-expression changes that occur during viral infection of E. huxleyi. cDNA libraries were constructed from uninfected cultures and 6, 12, and 24 h after infection with E. huxleyi-specific virus 86 (EhV-86). From each library 60-90 ESTs were randomly selected and annotated manually with PhyloGena. Viral genes were identified using BLAST-Search of the known viral genome. The data of this study show, that 6 h after viral infection the algal transcriptome changed significantly although few viral transcripts were present. At this point, changes mainly concerned transcripts related to photosynthesis and protein metabolism. However, after 24 h viral transcripts were most abundant. Viral transcripts found at this stage of viral infection encode proteins involved in protein degradation, nucleic acid degradation, transcription and replication.
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany.
Jessica
J
Kegel
Michael J
MJ
Allen
Katja
K
Metfies
William H
WH
Wilson
Dieter
D
Wolf-Gladrow
Klaus
K
Valentin
D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D015723:Gene Library; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics; D010942:Plant Viruses; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology*