Virophages of Giant Viruses: An Update at Eleven

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Mougari, Said | Sahmi-Bounsiar, Dehia | Levasseur, Anthony | Colson, Philippe | La Scola, Bernard

Edité par CCSD ; MDPI -

International audience. The last decade has been marked by two eminent discoveries that have changed ourperception of the virology field: The discovery of giant viruses and a distinct new class of viralagents that parasitize their viral factories, the virophages. Coculture and metagenomics haveactively contributed to the expansion of the virophage family by isolating dozens of new members.This increase in the body of data on virophage not only revealed the diversity of the virophage group,but also the relevant ecological impact of these small viruses and their potential role in the dynamicsof the microbial network. In addition, the isolation of virophages has led us to discover previouslyunknown features displayed by their host viruses and cells. In this review, we present an update ofall the knowledge on the isolation, biology, genomics, and morphological features of the virophages,a decade after the discovery of their first member, the Sputnik virophage. We discuss their parasiticlifestyle as bona fide viruses of the giant virus factories, genetic parasites of their genomes, and thentheir role as a key component or target for some host defense mechanisms during the tripartitevirophage–giant virus–host cell interaction. We also present the latest advances regarding their origin,classification, and definition that have been widely discussed

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