@article{2668a9c6bee84641a3f12b54e8ba0d4e,
title = "Lateral Gene Transfer of Anion-Conducting Channelrhodopsins between Green Algae and Giant Viruses",
abstract = "Channelrhodopsins (ChRs) are light-gated ion channels widely used as optogenetic tools for manipulating neuronal activity. The currently characterized ChR families include green algal and cryptophyte cation-conducting ChRs (CCRs) and cryptophyte, haptophyte, and stramenopile anion-conducting ChRs (ACRs). Here, we report the discovery of a new family of phylogenetically distinct ChRs encoded by marine giant viruses and acquired from their unicellular green algal hosts. These previously unknown viral and green algal ChRs act as ACRs when expressed in cultured neuroblastoma-derived cells and are likely involved in behavioral responses to light.",
author = "Andrey Rozenberg and Johannes Oppermann and Jonas Wietek and {Fernandez Lahore}, {Rodrigo Gaston} and Sandaa, {Ruth Anne} and Gunnar Bratbak and Peter Hegemann and Oded B{\'e}j{\`a}",
note = "We thank Oded Kleifeld for providing computational resources, Helena Amalie Hushagen, Tharsana Tharmalingam, and Sandra Augustin for help with laboratory work, Jos{\'e} Flores-Uribe for help with bioinformatics, Eunsoo Kim for providing us an unpublished transcriptome assembly of Cymbomonas tetramitiformis, and Stuart D. Sym and Charles J. O{\textquoteright}Kelly for their comments on Pyramimonas taxonomy. This work was supported by Israel Science Foundation grant 143/18 (O.B.), the Milgrom Foundation (O.B.), Research Council of Norway project VirVar 294363 (R.-A.S.), and German Research Foundation grant SFB 1078 B2 (P.H.). P.H. is a Hertie Senior Professor for Neuroscience supported by the Hertie Foundation . O.B. holds the Louis and Lyra Richmond Chair in Life Sciences. Author contributions - O.B. and J.W. conceived the project. A.R. and O.B. performed bioinformatic analyses. P.H. and J.O. designed molecular characterization. J.O. and R.G.F.L. acquired and analyzed electrophysiology and imaging data, respectively. A.R., R.-A.S., and G.B. performed genome sequencing of Pyramimonas orientalis virus 01B. A.R., J.O., and O.B. wrote the paper, with contributions from all authors.",
year = "2020",
month = dec,
day = "21",
doi = "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.056",
language = "الإنجليزيّة",
volume = "30",
pages = "4910--4920",
journal = "Current Biology",
issn = "0960-9822",
publisher = "Landes Bioscience",
number = "24",
}