HOST-VIRUS INTERACTIONS IN MARINE BROWN-ALGAE

Ectocarpus-like marine brown algae are frequently parasitized by polyh edric DNA viruses. Infected hosts have been studied in unialgal and ax enic cultures, and the present state of knowledge is summarized in reg ard to stage-specific virus expression, discharge and survival time of virus particles, infection mechanism, association with host's nuclear genome, passage of the virus genome through mitosis and meiosis of th e host, suppression of symptoms and spontaneous recovery of infected p lants, host specificity and intergeneric transmission, vitality of inf ected plants, pandemic occurrence of virus infections, molecular data on Ectocarpus and Feldmannia viruses, and algal DNA-viruses as potenti al vectors for gene transfer. A scheme for the nomenclature of brown a lgal viruses is proposed.