ReviewF1000Research2018
Multiple evolutionary origins of giant viruses.
Review in F1000Research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Why did some viruses evolve to be giants while others did not?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Mycodnaviridae is a clade of giant viruses that persistently infect zoosporic fungi.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Diversity and taxonomy of giant algal viruses: chloroviruses lead the way.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- Rise of the viral giants: common themes underlying genome gigantism in eukaryotic viruses and bacteriophages.Current opinion in microbiology · 2026Review
- A giant virus forms a specialized subcellular environment within its amoeba host for efficient translation.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Local microenvironments of capsomer variants in the PBCV-1.Journal of structural biology · 2025Article
- Convergent evolution of viral-like Borg archaeal extrachromosomal elements and giant eukaryotic viruses.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Epigenetic silencing and genome dynamics determine the fate of giant virus endogenizations in Acanthamoeba.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Ancient Host-Virus Gene Transfer Hints at a Diverse Pre-LECA Virosphere.Journal of molecular evolution · 2025Article
- Evolution of ubiquitin, cytoskeleton, and vesicular trafficking machinery in giant viruses.Journal of virology · 2025Article
- Review
- Host-Calibrated Time Tree Caps the Age of Giant Viruses.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Co-infection of phylogenetically distinct nucleocytoviruses in Acanthamoeba castellanii cells.FEMS microbiology letters · 2025Article
- Novel High-Quality Amoeba Genomes Reveal Widespread Codon Usage Mismatch Between Giant Viruses and Their Hosts.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Gene Transfer Among Viruses Substantially Contributes to Gene Gain of Giant Viruses.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Metatranscriptomic analysis reveals dissimilarity in viral community activity between an ice-free and ice-covered winter in Lake Erie.mSystems · 2024Article
- Article
- A giant virus infecting the amoeboflagellate Naegleria.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Hot springs viruses at Yellowstone National Park have ancient origins and are adapted to thermophilic hosts.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of cell-virus-virophage systems.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs) are a monophyletic group of diverse eukaryotic viruses that reproduce primarily in the cytoplasm of the infected cells and include the largest viruses currently known: the giant mimiviruses, pandoraviruses, and pithoviruses. With virions measuring up to 1.5 μm and genomes of up to 2.5 Mb, the giant viruses break the now-outdated definition of a virus and extend deep into the genome size range typical of bacteria and archaea. Additionally, giant viruses encode multiple proteins that are universal among cellular life forms, particularly components of the translation system, the signature cellular molecular machinery. These findings triggered hypotheses on the origin of giant viruses from cells, likely of an extinct fourth domain of cellular life, via reductive evolution. However, phylogenomic analyses reveal a different picture, namely multiple origins of giant viruses from smaller NCLDVs via acquisition of multiple genes from the eukaryotic hosts and bacteria, along with gene duplication. Thus, with regard to their origin, the giant viruses do not appear to qualitatively differ from the rest of the virosphere. However, the evolutionary forces that led to the emergence of virus gigantism remain enigmatic.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.