Genetic Diversity of Potassium Ion Channel Proteins Encoded by Chloroviruses That Infect Chlorella heliozoae

Murry, Carter R.; Agarkova, Irina V.; Ghosh, Jayadri S.; Fitzgerald, Fiona C.; Carlson, Roger M.; Hertel, Brigitte; Kukovetz, Kerri; Rauh, Oliver; Thiel, Gerhard; Van Etten, James L.

doi:10.3390/v12060678

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Genetic Diversity of Potassium Ion Channel Proteins Encoded by Chloroviruses That Infect Chlorella heliozoae

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School of Biological Sciences—Microbiology Program, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0118, USA

Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0900, USA

Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0833, USA

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Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Benedictine College, Atchison, KS 66002, USA

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Membrane Biophysics, Department of Biology, Technische Universitat, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Viruses 2020, 12(6), 678; https://doi.org/10.3390/v12060678

Received: 3 June 2020 / Revised: 18 June 2020 / Accepted: 19 June 2020 / Published: 23 June 2020

(This article belongs to the Section Viruses of Plants, Fungi and Protozoa)

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Abstract

Chloroviruses are large, plaque-forming, dsDNA viruses that infect chlorella-like green algae that live in a symbiotic relationship with protists. Chloroviruses have genomes from 290 to 370 kb, and they encode as many as 400 proteins. One interesting feature of chloroviruses is that they encode a potassium ion (K⁺) channel protein named Kcv. The Kcv protein encoded by SAG chlorovirus ATCV-1 is one of the smallest known functional K⁺ channel proteins consisting of 82 amino acids. The Kcv_ATCV-1 protein has similarities to the family of two transmembrane domain K⁺ channel proteins; it consists of two transmembrane α-helixes with a pore region in the middle, making it an ideal model for studying K⁺ channels. To assess their genetic diversity, kcv genes were sequenced from 103 geographically distinct SAG chlorovirus isolates. Of the 103 kcv genes, there were 42 unique DNA sequences that translated into 26 new Kcv channels. The new predicted Kcv proteins differed from Kcv_ATCV-1 by 1 to 55 amino acids. The most conserved region of the Kcv protein was the filter, the turret and the pore helix were fairly well conserved, and the outer and the inner transmembrane domains of the protein were the most variable. Two of the new predicted channels were shown to be functional K⁺ channels. View Full-Text

Keywords: Chloroviruses; potassium ion channels; Kcv channels; algal viruses

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Murry, C.R.; Agarkova, I.V.; Ghosh, J.S.; Fitzgerald, F.C.; Carlson, R.M.; Hertel, B.; Kukovetz, K.; Rauh, O.; Thiel, G.; Van Etten, J.L. Genetic Diversity of Potassium Ion Channel Proteins Encoded by Chloroviruses That Infect Chlorella heliozoae. Viruses 2020, 12, 678. https://doi.org/10.3390/v12060678

AMA Style

Murry CR, Agarkova IV, Ghosh JS, Fitzgerald FC, Carlson RM, Hertel B, Kukovetz K, Rauh O, Thiel G, Van Etten JL. Genetic Diversity of Potassium Ion Channel Proteins Encoded by Chloroviruses That Infect Chlorella heliozoae. Viruses. 2020; 12(6):678. https://doi.org/10.3390/v12060678

Chicago/Turabian Style

Murry, Carter R., Irina V. Agarkova, Jayadri S. Ghosh, Fiona C. Fitzgerald, Roger M. Carlson, Brigitte Hertel, Kerri Kukovetz, Oliver Rauh, Gerhard Thiel, and James L. Van Etten. 2020. "Genetic Diversity of Potassium Ion Channel Proteins Encoded by Chloroviruses That Infect Chlorella heliozoae" Viruses 12, no. 6: 678. https://doi.org/10.3390/v12060678

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Genetic Diversity of Potassium Ion Channel Proteins Encoded by Chloroviruses That Infect Chlorella heliozoae

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