The Virion of Cafeteria Roenbergensis Virus (CroV) Contains a Complex Suite of Proteins for Transcription and DNA Repair

Cafeteria roenbergensis virus (CroV) is a giant virus of the Mimiviridae family that infects the marine phagotrophic flagellate C. roenbergensis. CroV possesses a DNA genome of ~730 kilobase pairs that is predicted to encode 544 proteins. We analyzed the protein composition of purified CroV particles by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and identified 141 virion-associated CroV proteins and 60 host proteins. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD000993. Predicted functions could be assigned to 36% of the virion proteins, which include structural proteins as well as enzymes for transcription, DNA repair, redox reactions and protein modification. Homologs of 36 CroV virion proteins have previously been found in the virion of Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus. The overlapping virion proteome of CroV and Mimivirus reveals a set of conserved virion protein functions that were presumably present in the last common ancestor of the Mimiviridae.