Besides being considered pathogens, viruses are important drivers of evolution and they can shape large ecological and biogeochemical processes, by influencing host fitness, population dynamics, and community structures. Moreover, they are simple systems that can be used and manipulated to be beneficial and useful for biotechnological applications. In this context, microalgae biotechnology is a growing field of research, which investigated the usage of photosynthetic microorganisms for the sustainable production of food, fuel, chemical, and pharmaceutical sectors. Viruses infecting microalgae have become important subject of ecological studies related to marine and aquatic environments only four decades ago when virus-like-particles associated with bloom-forming algae were discovered. These first findings have opened new questions on evolution and identity. To date, 63 viruses that infect eukaryotic microalgae have been isolated and cultured. In this short review we briefly summarize what is known about viruses infecting eukaryotic microalgae, and how acknowledging their importance can shape future research focussed not only on marine ecology and evolutionary biology but also on biotechnological applications related to microalgae cell factories.

除了被认为是病原体外，病毒还是进化的重要驱动力，它们可以通过影响宿主适应性、种群动态和群落结构来塑造大型生态和生物地球化学过程。此外，它们是简单的系统，可以使用和操作以对生物技术应用有益和有用。在这种情况下，微藻生物技术是一个不断发展的研究领域，它研究了光合微生物在食品、燃料、化学和制药部门的可持续生产中的使用。仅在 40 年前，当发现与形成水华的藻类相关的病毒样颗粒时，感染微藻的病毒已成为与海洋和水生环境相关的生态研究的重要课题。这些最初的发现开启了关于进化和身份的新问题。迄今为止，已经分离和培养了 63 种感染真核微藻的病毒。在这篇简短的综述中，我们简要总结了对感染真核微藻的病毒的了解，以及承认它们的重要性如何影响未来的研究，不仅关注海洋生态学和进化生物学，还关注与微藻细胞工厂相关的生物技术应用。