Diversity and evolution of the emerging Pandoraviridae family

Matthieu Legendre (), Elisabeth Fabre, Olivier Poirot, Sandra Jeudy, Audrey Lartigue, Jean-Marie Alempic, Laure Beucher, Nadège Philippe, Lionel Bertaux, Eugène Christo-Foroux, Karine Labadie, Yohann Couté, Chantal Abergel () and Jean-Michel Claverie ()
Additional contact information
Matthieu Legendre: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Elisabeth Fabre: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Olivier Poirot: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Sandra Jeudy: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Audrey Lartigue: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Jean-Marie Alempic: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Laure Beucher: BIG-BGE
Nadège Philippe: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Lionel Bertaux: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Eugène Christo-Foroux: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Karine Labadie: Centre National de Séquençage
Yohann Couté: BIG-BGE
Chantal Abergel: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)
Jean-Michel Claverie: UMR 7256 (IMM FR 3479)

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract With DNA genomes reaching 2.5 Mb packed in particles of bacterium-like shape and dimension, the first two Acanthamoeba-infecting pandoraviruses remained up to now the most complex viruses since their discovery in 2013. Our isolation of three new strains from distant locations and environments is now used to perform the first comparative genomics analysis of the emerging worldwide-distributed Pandoraviridae family. Thorough annotation of the genomes combining transcriptomic, proteomic, and bioinformatic analyses reveals many non-coding transcripts and significantly reduces the former set of predicted protein-coding genes. Here we show that the pandoraviruses exhibit an open pan-genome, the enormous size of which is not adequately explained by gene duplications or horizontal transfers. As most of the strain-specific genes have no extant homolog and exhibit statistical features comparable to intergenic regions, we suggest that de novo gene creation could contribute to the evolution of the giant pandoravirus genomes.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04698-4

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