Host Range and Genome Adaptation of Giant Viruses

Viruses infect organisms across all domains of life. As human pathogens they are a major public health concern. In the environment they shape…
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Viruses are major but often overlooked players in ecological interactions. They are ubiquitous in nature, infecting organisms across all domains of life. Viruses have evolved many different shapes, sizes and types of genome organisation, which allows them to thrive in different environments. Research in Anouk Willemsen’s group focuses on the evolutionary genetics and genomics of microbes, especially the ability of viruses to adapt (or not) to changes in their environments.
Anouk’s group employs a range of molecular and microbiology techniques, experimental evolution, sequencing, genomics, phylogenetics and bioinformatics. Anouk has received two Marie Skłodowska-Curie grants and an ERC Starting Grant (2021) to investigate the role of mobile genetic elements in the ecology and evolution of giant viruses. She is the co-lead of an FWF project focused on studying giant viruses in the wild.

Viruses infect organisms across all domains of life. As human pathogens they are a major public health concern. In the environment they shape…

The sympatric lifestyle of giant viruses: contact tracing and fitness through mobile genetic elements (CHIMERA)
Mayer L, Nikolov G, Kunert M, Horn M, Willemsen A. Mimivirus transcription and translation occur at well-defined locations within amoeba host cells. Journal of Virology. 2025 Jun 13;99(7):e00554-25. doi: 10.1128/jvi.00554-25
Willemsen A, Manzano-Marín A, Horn M. Novel high-quality amoeba genomes reveal widespread codon usage mismatch between giant viruses and their hosts. Genome Biology and Evolution. 2025 Jan 6;17(1):evae271. doi: 10.1101/2024.09.23.614596, 10.1093/gbe/evae271
Arthofer P, Panhölzl F, Delafont V, Hay A, Reipert S, Cyran N et al. A giant virus infecting the amoeboflagellate Naegleria. Nature Communications. 2024 Dec;15(1):3307. Epub 2024 Apr 24. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-47308-2
Picard MAL, Leblay F, Cassan C, Willemsen A, Daron J, Bauffe F et al. Transcriptomic, proteomic, and functional consequences of codon usage bias in human cells during heterologous gene expression. Protein Science. 2023 Mar;32(3):e4576. Epub 2023 Jan 24. doi: 10.1002/pro.4576
Arthofer P, Delafont V, Willemsen A, Panhölzl F, Horn M. Defensive symbiosis against giant viruses in amoebae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2022 Aug 29;119(36): e2205856119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2205856119