I am what I eat and I eat what I am: acquisition of bacterial genes by giant viruses

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Abstract

Giant viruses are nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs) that infect algae (phycodnaviruses) and amoebae (Mimivirus). We report an unexpected abundance in these giant viruses of islands of bacterial-type genes, including apparently intact prokaryotic mobile genetic elements, and hypothesize that NCLDV genomes undergo successive accretions of bacterial genes. The viruses could acquire bacterial genes within their bacteria-feeding eukaryotic hosts, and we suggest that such acquisition is driven by the intimate coupling of recombination and replication in NCLDVs. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Filée, J., Siguier, P., & Chandler, M. (2007, January). I am what I eat and I eat what I am: acquisition of bacterial genes by giant viruses. Trends in Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2006.11.002

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