Abstract:
The general perception of viruses is that they are small in terms of size and genome, and that they hijack the host machinery to glycosylate their capsid. Giant viruses subvert all these concepts: their particles are not small, and their genome is more complex than that of some bacteria. Regarding glycosylation, this concept has been already challenged by the finding that Chloroviruses have an autonomous glycosylation machinery that produces oligosaccharides similar in size to those of small viruses (6-12 units), albeit different in structure compared to the viral counterparts. We report herein that Mimivirus possesses a glycocalyx made of two different polysaccharides, now challenging the concept that all viruses coat their capsids with oligosaccharides of discrete size. This discovery contradicts the paradigm that such macromolecules are absent in viruses, blurring the boundaries between giant viruses and the cellular world and opening new avenues in the field of viral glycobiology.
摘要:
人们对病毒的普遍看法是,它们在大小和基因组方面都很小,他们劫持宿主机器糖基化衣壳。巨型病毒颠覆了所有这些概念:它们的颗粒不小,它们的基因组比某些细菌的基因组更复杂。关于糖基化,这一概念已经受到以下发现的挑战:氯病毒具有自主的糖基化机制,产生的寡糖的大小与小病毒(6-12个单位)相似,尽管在结构上与病毒对应物不同。我们在此报告,Mimivirus拥有由两种不同的多糖制成的糖萼,现在挑战的概念,所有的病毒包被他们的衣壳离散大小的寡糖。这一发现与病毒中不存在此类大分子的范式相矛盾,模糊巨型病毒和细胞世界之间的界限,并在病毒糖生物学领域开辟新的途径。