噬病毒体

噬病毒体是一种能感染其它病毒,通过损害宿主病毒来完成自我复制的病毒。目前已经先后发现三种噬病毒体:Sputnik、Mavirus和OLV(有机湖噬病毒体)。大多数噬病毒体都在低级的生命形式如阿米巴变形虫中被发现。噬病毒体能抑制宿主病毒的增殖和裂解细胞的能力,并且噬病毒体只有在宿主病毒存在时才能增殖。噬病毒体的发现开启了一条新的探索病毒间相互作用的途径。本文主要就噬病毒体的发现过程、噬病毒体的基本特征及噬病毒体感染宿主病毒的机制进行概述。

Research progress of virophage

The virophage is a virus infecting other viruses and multiplying itself at the expense of these viruses. There are three virophages that have been found： Sputnik, Mavirus and OLV（organic lake virophage）. The majority of virophages have been discovered in lower order life forms like amoebas. The discovery of virosphage opens up brand-new avenues of scientific exploration in terms of how viruses interact with each other. The multiplication and lysis of host virus are inhibited by virophage infection, and virophage is not able to replicate in the absence of host virus. This view focuses on the finding and the characteristics of virophage and the mechanism that virophage infects host virus.