Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: It has been 49 years since the last discovery of a new virus family in the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A large-scale screen to determine the diversity of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses in S. cerevisiae has identified multiple novel viruses from the family Partitiviridae that have been previously shown to infect plants, fungi, protozoans, and insects. Most S. cerevisiae partitiviruses (ScPVs) are associated with strains of yeasts isolated from coffee and cacao beans. The presence of partitiviruses was confirmed by sequencing the viral dsRNAs and purifying and visualizing isometric, non-enveloped viral particles. ScPVs have a typical bipartite genome encoding an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) and a coat protein (CP). Phylogenetic analysis of ScPVs identified three species of ScPV, which are most closely related to viruses of the genus Cryspovirus from the mammalian pathogenic protozoan Cryptosporidium parvum. Molecular modeling of the ScPV RdRP revealed a conserved tertiary structure and catalytic site organization when compared to the RdRPs of the Picornaviridae. The ScPV CP is the smallest so far identified in the Partitiviridae and has structural homology with the CP of other partitiviruses but likely lacks a protrusion domain that is a conspicuous feature of other partitivirus particles. ScPVs were stably maintained during laboratory growth and were successfully transferred to haploid progeny after sporulation, which provides future opportunities to study partitivirus-host interactions using the powerful genetic tools available for the model organism S. cerevisiae.
Source: PLoS Pathogens
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrinology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,655
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, National Institutes of Health, Directorate for Biological Sciences, Office of Nuclear Energy, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
Awards: G1187630603, G127156130, G1432908171, COBRE Phase III: Transitional Center for Research on Processes in Evolution, G2873784832, G3993911843, Center for Modeling Complex Interactions, G6293982872, G6438247056, G6731173656, G6757593912, G6803710965, G7191885690, Collaborative Research: Eukaryotic virus-host interaction and evolution in Saccharomyces yeasts, Biochemical Implications of the Transfer of a Structural Gene between DNA and RNA Viruses., G8344175379, G886475377, G9000323126, Idaho INBRE Program, RII Track-2 FEC: Using Biophysical Protein Models to Map Genetic Variation to Phenotypes
OpenAlex ID: W4379745613