The Hidden World of Terrestrial Giant Viruses

Описание: In this edition of our Seminar Series, titled, "The Hidden World of Terrestrial Giant Viruses and the Diversity of Soil Microbial Life in the Harvard Forest Experimental Warming Plots," Dr. Jeffrey Blanchard, Associate Professor of the biology department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst explains, "the discovery of giant viruses with genomes harboring upwards of 3,000 genes (more than some bacteria) has changed the boundaries of life. Giant viruses are part of the Nucleocytoviricota (NCV) whose members include both harmful agents (such as the causative agents of smallpox and swine hemorrhagic fever) and beneficial ones (such as those that provide biocontrol of insects, mitigation of toxic algal blooms, and enzymes for biotechnology). An environmental genomics approach involving filtration and fluorescence activating cell-sorting (FACS) was used to reveal 16 novel giant virus lineages in soil at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, MA, including the world’s 2nd largest NCV genome. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) of soil filtrates revealed giant viruses with hair-like extrusions found in the Mimiviridae and oval shapes with apical cork-like structures reminiscent of Pithoviridae, but also several very unusual morphotypes."
This seminar was given on Wednesday, December 1, 2021 at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, Connecticut.