Nowe wirofagi – mawirus i OLV

Viruses are abundant and ubiquitous members of the microbial community. In the water environment, they affect the population structure and nutrient cycling by infecting and lysing primary producers. Here we describe two newly discovered virophages that prey on the Cafeteria roenobergensis virus (CroV) and on phycodnaviruses, which infect marine heterotrophic flagellates. Virophages, e.g. Sputnik, Mavirus and Organic Lake Virophage (OLV), are unusual parasites of giant double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses. Although they are quite common in the water environment, little is known about their diversity. This paper is a summary of available data.