Phaeoviruses present in cultured and natural kelp species, Saccharina latissima and Laminaria hyperborea (Phaeophyceae, Laminariales), in Norway

Phaeoviruses (Phycodnaviridae) are large icosahedral viruses in the phylumNucleocytoviricota with dsDNA genomes ranging from 160 to 560kb infecting multicellular brownalgae (Phaeophyceae). The phaeoviral host-range is broader than expected, not only infectingalgae from the Ectocarpales but also from the Laminariales order. However, despite phaeoviralinfections being reported globally, Norwegian kelp species have not been screened. Molecularanalysis of cultured and wild samples of two economically important kelp species in Norway(Saccharina latissima and Laminaria hyperborea), revealed that phaeoviruses are recurrentlypresent along the Norwegian coast. Moreover, up to three different viral sequences were found inthe same algal individual, one of which does not belong to the Phaeovirus genus and has neverbeen reported before

褐藻病毒属（Phaeoviruses）隶属于核胞病毒门（Nucleocytoviricota）下的藻病毒科（Phycodnaviridae），是一类大型二十面体病毒，其基因组为双链DNA（double-stranded DNA，dsDNA），长度介于160至560kb之间，可侵染多细胞褐藻（Phaeophyceae）。该类病毒的宿主范围远超预期，不仅可侵染水云目（Ectocarpales）的藻类，还可感染海带目（Laminariales）的物种。尽管全球范围内已有褐藻病毒感染的相关报道，但此前尚未对挪威的海带类物种开展筛查。研究人员对挪威境内两种经济价值重要的海带类物种——宽叶海带（Saccharina latissima）与厚叶海带（Laminaria hyperborea）——的培养样本及野生样本进行分子分析后发现，挪威沿岸海域频繁检出褐藻病毒。此外，同一份藻类个体中最多可检测到三种不同的病毒序列，其中一种序列不属于褐藻病毒属，且为首次报道的新型病毒。