title: Large dsDNA chloroviruses encode diverse membrane transport proteins.
abstract: Many large DNA viruses that infect certain isolates of chlorella-like green algae (chloroviruses) are unusual because they often encode a diverse set of membrane transport proteins, including functional K(+) channels and aquaglyceroporins as well as K(+) transporters and calcium transporting ATPases. Some chloroviruses also encode putative ligand-gated-like channel proteins. No one protein is present in all of the chloroviruses that have been sequenced, but the K(+) channel is the most common as only two chloroviruses have been isolated that lack this complete protein. This review describes the properties of these membrane-transporting proteins and suggests possible physiological functions and evolutionary histories for some of them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Membrane Biophysics, TU-Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstrasse 3, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thiel
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Membrane Biophysics, TU-Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstrasse 3, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany; Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London, Medical Sciences Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Greiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0900, USA; Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0900, USA.
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Dunigan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and CNR IBF-Mi, and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moroni
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0900, USA; Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0900, USA. Electronic address: jvanetten1@unl.edu.
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Van Etten
mesh_terms: D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000821:virology*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017862:Phycodnaviridae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins
keywords: Algal viruses; Chloroviruses; Giant viruses; Ion channels; Ion transporters