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Sputnik and Mavirus: not more than satellite viruses

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 10, page 78 (2012)Cite this article

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In response to our Comment (Virophages or satellite viruses? Nature Rev. Microbiol. 9 762–763 (2011))1 regarding the place of the so-called virophages in the viral world, Matthias Fischer puts forth two arguments that, in his opinion, distinguish virophages from classical satellite viruses (Sputnik and Mavirus: more than just satellite viruses. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 5 Dec 2011 (doi:10.1038/nrmicro2676-c1))2.

In his first argument, Fischer cites the definition of satellite viruses provided by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) — “Satellites are sub-viral agents which lack genes that could encode functions needed for replication” (Ref. 3) — and argues that Sputnik and Mavirus cannot be considered satellite viruses because they are not small and they encode their own DNA replication enzymes. In fact, the ICTV definition rather accurately describes the main features of Sputnik and Mavirus. The term subviral agents, however, should not necessarily be understood as 'smaller than viruses' per se, but should rather be interpreted as 'lacking certain functions or features'. Besides, not all satellite viruses are smaller than 'autonomous' viruses; for example, both the genome and virion sizes of adeno-associated virus (AAV), which relies on co-infection with adenovirus for reproduction, are larger than those of the circoviruses. Also, 'virus replication' has been confused with 'genome replication', as these terms are not synonymous. Virus replication refers to the entire process of virus multiplication, from the onset of infection to the assembly and release of viral progeny. In any case, AAV encodes its own enzyme for replication of the single-stranded DNA genome by a rolling-hairpin mechanism4,5.

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  1. Department of Microbiology, Mart Krupovic and Virginija Cvirkaite-Krupovic are at the Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Dr. Roux, Paris, 75015, France

    Mart Krupovic & Virginija Cvirkaite-Krupovic

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  1. Mart Krupovic
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  2. Virginija Cvirkaite-Krupovic
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Correspondence to Mart Krupovic.

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Krupovic, M., Cvirkaite-Krupovic, V. Sputnik and Mavirus: not more than satellite viruses. Nat Rev Microbiol 10, 78 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2676-c2

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