Abstract
The motivation for focusing on a specific virus is often its importance in terms of impact on human interests. The chlorella viruses are a notable exception and 40 years of research has made them the undisputed model system for large icosahedral dsDNA viruses infecting eukaryotes. Their status has changed from inconspicuous and rather odd with no ecological relevance to being the Phycodnaviridae type strain possibly affecting humans and human cognitive functioning in ways that remain to be understood. The Van Etten legacy is the backbone for research on Phycodnaviridae. After highlighting some of the peculiarities of chlorella viruses, we point to some issues and questions related to the viruses we choose for our research, our prejudices, what we are still missing, and what we should be looking for.
Highlights
To meet the call for relevance and benefit requested by funding agencies and politicians, most of us justify our research by claiming that the viruses we work on are important and that the work provides knowledge that will benefit society
After highlighting some of the peculiarities of chlorella viruses, we point to some issues and questions related to the viruses we choose for our research, our prejudices, what we are still missing, and what we should be looking for
(Personal letter to GB after reading the Nature paper on high abundance of viruses found in aquatic environments). He may still be partly right about the ecological role of chlorella viruses, but when it comes to algal viruses in general and the water ecologists, he is completely wrong
Summary
To meet the (often narrow-minded) call for relevance and benefit requested by funding agencies and politicians, most of us justify our research by claiming that the viruses we work on are important and that the work provides knowledge that will benefit society. The importance of a virus is not due to the virus itself, but to the hosts they infect and affect, and many viruses are important because they cause diseases in humans, animals, or crops. They are important because they are active and abundant in aquatic environments, infect key species, and affect community composition and nutrient flow and all aquatic ecosystem services. We need to know about viruses to understand nature and implement knowledge-based management of our resources
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