title: Novel Virophages Discovered in a Freshwater Lake in China.
abstract: Virophages are small double-stranded DNA viruses that are parasites of giant DNA viruses that infect unicellular eukaryotes. Here we identify a novel group of virophages, named Dishui Lake virophages (DSLVs) that were discovered in Dishui Lake (DSL): an artificial freshwater lake in Shanghai, China. Based on PCR and metagenomic analysis, the complete genome of DSLV1 was found to be circular and 28,788 base pairs in length, with a G+C content 43.2%, and 28 predicted open reading frames (ORFs). Fifteen of the DSLV1 ORFs have sequence similarity to known virophages. Two DSLV1 ORFs exhibited sequence similarity to that of prasinoviruses (Phycodnaviridae) and chloroviruses (Phycodnaviridae), respectively, suggesting horizontal gene transfer occurred between these large algal DNA viruses and DSLV1. 46 other virophages-related contigs were also obtained, including six homologous major capsid protein (MCP) gene. Phylogenetic analysis of these MCPs showed that DSLVs are closely related to OLV (Organic Lake virophage) and YSLVs (Yellowstone Lake virophages), especially to YSLV3, except for YSLV7. These results indicate that freshwater ecotopes are the hotbed for discovering novel virophages as well as understanding their diversity and properties.
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean UniversityShanghai, China; Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation, Ministry of AgricultureShanghai, China.
authors.forename: Chaowen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean UniversityShanghai, China; Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation, Ministry of AgricultureShanghai, China.
authors.forename: Weijia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean UniversityShanghai, China; Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation, Ministry of AgricultureShanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xuewen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean UniversityShanghai, China; Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation, Ministry of AgricultureShanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hongming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean UniversityShanghai, China; Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation, Ministry of AgricultureShanghai, China.
authors.forename: Guowei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean UniversityShanghai, China; Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation, Ministry of AgricultureShanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jinzhou
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean UniversityShanghai, China; Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation, Ministry of AgricultureShanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yingjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean UniversityShanghai, China; Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, University of GoettingenGoettingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Shuling
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean UniversityShanghai, China; Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation, Ministry of AgricultureShanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yongjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: diversity; freshwater lake; genome; metagenomics; virophage
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