title: Isolation and Characterization of a Double Stranded DNA Megavirus Infecting the Toxin-Producing Haptophyte Prymnesium parvum.
abstract: Prymnesium parvumis a toxin-producing haptophyte that causes harmful algal blooms globally, leading to large-scale fish kills that have severe ecological and economic implications. For the model haptophyte,Emiliania huxleyi, it has been shown that large dsDNA viruses play an important role in regulating blooms and therefore biogeochemical cycling, but much less work has been done looking at viruses that infectP. parvum, or the role that these viruses may play in regulating harmful algal blooms. In this study, we report the isolation and characterization of a lytic nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA virus (NCLDV) collected from the site of a harmfulP. parvumbloom. In subsequent experiments, this virus was shown to infect cultures ofPrymnesiumsp. and showed phylogenetic similarity to the extendedMegaviridaefamily of algal viruses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK. ben.wagstaff@live.co.uk.
authors.forename: Ben A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Wagstaff
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK. vladu.iulia@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Iulia C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Vladu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK. elaine.barclay@jic.ac.uk.
authors.forename: J Elaine
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Barclay
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Association of the UK, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK. dsch@mba.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Declan C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Studies, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK. g.malin@uea.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gill
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Malin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK. rob.field@jic.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Field
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D000072139:Giant Viruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D058087:Haptophyta / Q000821:virology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D004247:DNA
keywords: Megaviridae; NCLDV; Prymnesium parvum; algal bloom; algal virus; haptophyte