James Van Etten, PhD
Publications and Research Interests: Research in the Van Etten laboratory focuses on the isolation and characterization of large icosahedral, dsDNA-containing, plaque-forming viruses that infect certain unicellular, eukaryotic chlorella-like green algae. These viruses are ubiquitous in fresh water from all over the world. The chlorella viruses have genomes as large as 370 kb that contain as many as 400 protein encoding- and 16 tRNA encoding-genes. Besides their large genomes, the chlorella viruses have other unexpected features: (i) They encode multiple DNA methyltransferases and DNA restriction endonucleases. (ii) Unlike other glycoprotein-containing viruses, chlorella viruses encode most, if not all, of the components required to glycosylate their proteins. (iii) Many chlorella virus-encoded proteins are either the smallest or among the smallest proteins of their class. Consequently, these proteins serve as models for mechanistic and structural studies. Infection by the chlorella viruses resembles bacterial infection by tailed bacteriophages in many respects. Selected Recent Publications: Fruscione, F., L. Sturla, G. Duncan, J.L. Van Etten, P. Valbuzzi, A. De Flora, E. Di Zanni, and M. Tonetti. (2008). Differential role of NADP+ and NADPH in the activity and structure of GDP-D-mannose 4,6-dehydratase from two chlorella viruses. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 184-193. Neupartl, M., C. Meyer, I. Woll, F. Frohns, M. Kang, J.L. Van Etten, D. Kramer, B. Hertel, Moroni, and G. Thiel. (2008). Chlorella viruses evoke a rapid release of K+ from host cells during early phase of infection. Virology 372, 340-348. Balss, J., P. Papatheodorou, M. Mehmel, D. Baumeister, B. Hertel, N. Delaroque, F.C. Chatelain, D.L. Minor, J.L. Van Etten, J. Rassow, A. Moroni, and G. Thiel. (2008). Transmembrane domain length of viral K+ channels is a signal for mitochondria targeting. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 12313-12318. Mujtaba, S., K.L. Manzur, J.R. Gurnon, M. Kang, J.L. Van Etten, and M-M. Kang. (2008). Epigenetic transcription repression of cellular genes by a viral SET protein. Nature Cell Biol. 10, 1114-1122. Fitzgerald, L.A., P.T. Boucher, G. Yanai-Balser, K. Suhre, M.V. Graves, and J.L. Van Etten. (2008). Putative gene promoter sequences in the chlorella viruses. Virology 380, 388-393. Agarkova, I., D. Dunigan, J. Gurnon, T. Greiner, J. Barres, G. Thiel, and J.L. Van Etten. (2008). Chlorovirus-mediated membrane depolarization of chlorella alters secondary active transport of solutes. J. Virol. 82, 12181-12190. Gazzarrini, S., M. Kang, A. Abenavoli, G. Romani, C. Olivari, D. Gaslini, G. Ferrara,J.L. Van Etten, M. Kreim, S.M. Kast, G. Thiel, and A. Moroni. (2009). Chlorellavirus ATCV1 encodes a functional potassium channel of eighty-two amino acids Biochem. J. 420, 295-303. Thiel, G., A. Moroni, D. Dunigan, and J.L. Van Etten. (2010). Initial events associatedwith virus PBCV-1 infection of Chlorella NC64A. Progress in Botany (U. Lüttge, W. Beyschlag, B. Büdel, eds.) vol. 71. Springer -Verlag, Berlin. pp. 169-183. Greiner, T., F. Frohns, M. Kang, J.L. Van Etten, A. Kaesmann, A. Moroni, B. Hertel, andG. Thiel. (2009). Chlorella viruses prevent multiple infections by depolarizing the host membrane. J. Gen Virol. 90, 2033-2039. Cherrier, M.V., V.A. Kostyuchenko, C. Xiao, V.D. Bowman, A.J. Battisti, X. Yan, P.R.Chipman, T.S. Baker, J.L. Van Etten, and M.G. Rossmann. (2009). An icosahedral algal virus has a complex unique vertex decorated by a spike. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 11085-11089. Fitzgerald, L.A., Y. Zhang, G. Lewis, J.L. Van Etten. (2009). Characterization of a monothiol glutaredoxin encoded by chlorella virus PBCV-1. Virus Genes 39, 418-426. Van Etten, J.L., J. Gurnon, G. Yanai-Balser, D. Dunigan, M.V. Graves. (2010). Chlorella viruses encode most, if not all, of the machninery to glycosylate their glycoproteins independent of the endoplasmic reticulum. Biochem. Biophys. Acta 1800, 152-159. [special issue on nucleo-cytoplasmic glycosylation]. Yanai-Balser, G.M., G.A. Duncan, J.D. Eudy, D. Wang, X. Li, I.V. Agarkova, D.D. Dunigan, and J.L. Van Etten. (2010). Microarray analysis of chlorella virus PBCV-1 transcription. J. Virol. 84:532-542. [highlighted article] Fitzgerald, L.A., P.K. Wu, J.R. Gurnon, J.C. Biffinger, B.R. Ringeisen, and J.L. Van Etten. (2010). Isolation of the phycodnavirus PBCV-1 by biological laser printing (BioLP).J. Viol. Meth. 167:223-225. Thiel, G., D. Baumeister, I. Schroeder, S.M. Kast, J.L. Van Etten, and A. Moroni. (2011). Minimal art: or why small viral K+ channels are good tools for understanding basic structure and function relations. Biochem. Biophys. Acta 1808, 580-588. [special issue on biomembranes] Bonza, M.C., H. Martin, M. Kang, G. Lewis, T. Greiner, S. Giacometti, J.L. Van Etten, M.I. De Michelis, G. Thiel, and A. Moroni. (2010). A functional calcium transporting ATPase encoded by chlorella viruses. J. Gen. Virol. 91, 2620-2629. Chothi, M.P., G.A. Duncan, A. Armirotti, C. Abergel, J.R. Gurnon, J.L. Van Etten, C. Bernardi, G. Damonti, and M. Tonetti. (2010). Identification of an L-rhamnose synthetic pathway in two nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses. J. Virol. 84, 8829-8838. Blanc, G., G.A. Duncan, I. Agarkova, M. Borodovsky, J. Gurnon, A. Kuo, E. Lindquist, S. Lucas, J. Pangilinan, A. Salamov, A. Terry, T. Yamada, D.D. Dunigan, I.V. Grigoriev, J.M. Claverie, and J.L. Van Etten. (2010). The Chlorella variabilis NC64A genome reveals adaptation to photosymbiosis, coevolution with and viruses and cryptic sex. Plant Cell 22, 2943-2955. Xiang, Y., U. Baxa, Y. Zhang, A.C. Steven, G.L. Lewis, J.L. Van Etten, and M.G. Rossmann. (2010). Crystal structure of a virus encoded glycosyltransferase. J. Virol. 84, 12265-12273. Wilson, W.H., J.L. Van Etten, and M.J. Allen. (2010). The Phycodnaviridae: the story of how tiny giants rule the world. In "Lesser Known Large dsDNA Viruses". (J. Van Etten, ed). Springer, Berlin. p. 1-42. Van Etten, J.L., L.C. Lane, and D.D. Dunigan. (2010). DNA viruses - the really big ones (giruses). Ann. Rev. Microbiol. 64, 83-99. Smith, D.R., F. Burki, T. Yamada, I.V. Grigoriev, J.L. Van Etten, and P.J. Keeling. (2011). The GC-rich mitochondrial and plastid genomes of the green alga Coccomyxa give insight into the evolution of organelle DNA nucleotide landscape. PloS One 6, e23624. Van Etten, J.L. (2011). Another really, really big virus - Commentary. Viruses 3, 32-46. Van Etten, J.L. (2011). Giant viruses. Am. Scientist. 99, 304-311. Zhang, X., Y. Xiang, D.D. Dunigan, T. Klose, P.R. Chipman, J.L. Van Etten, and M.G. Rossmann. (2011). Three-dimensional structure and function of the Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus capsid. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108, 14837-14842. Greiner, T., Ramos, J., Alvarez, M., Gurnon, J.R., Kang, M. Van Etten, J.L., Moroni, A., and Thiel, G. (2011). A functional HAK/KUP/KT-like potassium transporter encoded by chlorella viruses. Plant Journal (in press). Van Etten, J.L., and D.D. Dunigan. (2012). Chloroviruses: not your everyday plant virus. Trends Plant Sci. (in press) (Cover photo) |
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