title: Recognition of extremophilic archaeal viruses by eukaryotic cells: a promising nanoplatform from the third domain of life.
abstract: Viruses from the third domain of life, Archaea, exhibit unusual features including extreme stability that allow their survival in harsh environments. In addition, these species have never been reported to integrate into human or any other eukaryotic genomes, and could thus serve for exploration of novel medical nanoplatforms. Here, we selected two archaeal viruses Sulfolobus monocaudavirus 1 (SMV1) and Sulfolobus spindle shaped virus 2 (SSV2) owing to their unique spindle shape, hyperthermostable and acid-resistant nature and studied their interaction with mammalian cells. Accordingly, we followed viral uptake, intracellular trafficking and cell viability in human endothelial cells of brain (hCMEC/D3 cells) and umbilical vein (HUVEC) origin. Whereas SMV1 is efficiently internalized into both types of human cells, SSV2 differentiates between HUVECs and hCMEC/D3 cells, thus opening a path for selective cell targeting. On internalization, both viruses localize to the lysosomal compartments. Neither SMV1, nor SSV2 induced any detrimental effect on cell morphology, plasma membrane and mitochondrial functionality. This is the first study demonstrating recognition of archaeal viruses by eukaryotic cells which provides good basis for future exploration of archaeal viruses in bioengineering and development of multifunctional vectors.
authors.affiliation: Danish Archaea Centre, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes vej 5, Copenhagen, 2200, Denmark.
authors.forename: Kristine Buch
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Uldahl
authors.affiliation: Nanomedicine Research Group, Centre for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Linping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Nanomedicine Research Group, Centre for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Arnaldur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: Danish Archaea Centre, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes vej 5, Copenhagen, 2200, Denmark.
authors.forename: Pavlos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Papathanasiou
authors.affiliation: Danish Archaea Centre, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes vej 5, Copenhagen, 2200, Denmark.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Nanomedicine Research Group, Centre for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.|School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, Wolfson building, Queens campus, Stockton on Tees, TS17 6BS, UK.
authors.forename: Seyed Moein
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Moghimi
mesh_terms: D023641:Archaeal Viruses / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000821:virology*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; D006801:Humans; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000821:virology; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D010085:Oxidative Phosphorylation; D016944:Sulfolobus / Q000821:virology; D014771:Virion / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D009930:Organic Chemicals; C451241:PKH67