A giant virus infecting green algae encodes key fermentation genes

The family Mimiviridae contains uncommonly large viruses, many of which were isolated using a free-living amoeba as a host. Although the genomes of these and other mimivirids that infect marine heterokont and haptophyte protists have now been sequenced, there has yet to be a genomic investigation of a mimivirid that infects a member of the Viridiplantae lineage (green algae and land plants). Here we characterize the 668-kilobase complete genome of TetV-1, a mimivirid that infects the cosmopolitan green alga Tetraselmis (Chlorodendrophyceae). The analysis revealed genes not previously seen in viruses, such as the mannitol metabolism enzyme mannitol 1-phosphate dehydrogenase, the saccharide degradation enzyme alpha-galactosidase, and the key fermentation genes pyruvate formate-lyase and pyruvate formate-lyase activating enzyme. The TetV genome is the largest sequenced to date for a virus that infects a photosynthetic organism, and its genes reveal unprecedented mechanisms by which viruses manipulate their host's metabolism.