bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/780841; this version posted September 24, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. First evidence of host range expansion in virophages and its potential impact on giant viruses and host cells Said Mougari1,2, Nisrine Chelkha1,2, Dehia Sahmi-Bounsiar1,2, Fabrizio Di Pinto1,2, Philippe Colson1,2, Jonatas Abrahao3* and Bernard La Scola1,2* 1 Unité MEPHI, Aix-Marseille Univ., Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille (AP-HM), 19-21 boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France. 2 IHU Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France. 3 Laboratório de Vírus, Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil- postal code 31270-901 * Corresponding author:
[email protected] (J.A.);
[email protected]. (B.L.S.) Abstract Virophages are satellite-like double stranded DNA viruses whose replication requires the presence of two biological entities, a giant virus and a protist. In this report, we present the first evidence of host range expansion in a virophage. We demonstrated that the Guarani virophage was able to spontaneously expand its viral host range to replicate with two novel giant viruses that were previously nonpermissive to this virophage. We were able to characterize a potential genetic determinant of this cross-species infection. We then highlighted the relevant impact of this host adaptation on giant viruses and protists by demonstrating that coinfection with the mutant virophage abolishes giant virus production and rescues the host cell population from lysis.