Thomas M Pitot

Aug 17, 2024 | biorxiv.org | Frederik Schulz |Université Laval |Thomas M Pitot

AbstractBackgroundLarge double-stranded DNA viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota (Giant viruses; GVs) include the largest known viruses, both in terms of capsid and genome size and are associated with a wide range of eukaryotic hosts. The ones able to infect protists and algae have been shown to be the dominant orders of GVs in the environmental samples. These viruses encode for genes that may have significantly impacted biogeochemical cycling and host genome evolution.