Giant Viruses as a Source of Novel Enzymes for Biotechnological Application

• Published in: Pathogens (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 12; p. 1453
• Main Authors: de Oliveira, Ellen Gonçalves, Carvalho, João Victor Rodrigues Pessoa, Botelho, Bruna Barbosa, da Costa Filho, Clécio Alonso, Henriques, Lethícia Ribeiro, de Azevedo, Bruna Luiza, Rodrigues, Rodrigo Araújo Lima
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-12-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Algae; Apoptosis; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Biological products; Biology; Biosynthesis; Biotechnological microorganisms; Biotechnology; Biotechnology industry; Carbohydrate metabolism; Carbohydrates; Chemical properties; Chitinase; DNA biosynthesis; Enzymes; Evolution; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetic engineering; Genomes; genomics; giant viruses; Industrial microorganisms; Lipids; Metabolism; Microbial biotechnology; Microbial enzymes; Microbiological synthesis; Microorganisms; mimiviridae; NCLDV; nucleocytoviricota; phycodnaviridae; Physiological aspects; Production processes; Prokaryotes; Proteins; Review; RNA processing; Signal transduction; Textiles; Virus research; Viruses; Brazil; biotechnology; NCLDV; mimiviridae; phycodnaviridae; enzymes; genomics; giant viruses; nucleocytoviricota
• ISSN: 2076-0817; 2076-0817
• DOI: 10.3390/pathogens11121453

The global demand for industrial enzymes has been increasing in recent years, and the search for new sources of these biological products is intense, especially in microorganisms. Most known viruses have limited genetic machinery and, thus, have been overlooked by the enzyme industry for years. However, a peculiar group of viruses breaks this paradigm. Giant viruses of the phylum
infect protists (i.e., algae and amoebae) and have complex genomes, reaching up to 2.7 Mb in length and encoding hundreds of genes. Different giant viruses have robust metabolic machinery, especially those in the
and
families. In this review, we present some peculiarities of giant viruses that infect protists and discuss why they should be seen as an outstanding source of new enzymes. We revisited the genomes of representatives of different groups of giant viruses and put together information about their enzymatic machinery, highlighting several genes to be explored in biotechnology involved in carbohydrate metabolism, DNA replication, and RNA processing, among others. Finally, we present additional evidence based on structural biology using chitinase as a model to reinforce the role of giant viruses as a source of novel enzymes for biotechnological application.