Since the discovery of mimivirus, numerous giant viruses associated with free-living amoebae have been described. The genome of giant viruses can be more than 2.5 megabases, and virus particles can exceed the size of many bacteria. The unexpected characteristics of these viruses have made them intriguing research targets and, as a result, studies focusing on their interactions with their amoeba host have gained increased attention. Studies have shown that giant viruses can establish host-pathogen interactions, which have not been previously demonstrated, including the unprecedented interaction with a new group of small viruses, called virophages, that parasitize their viral factories. In this brief review, we present recent advances in virophage-giant virus-host interactions and highlight selected studies involving interactions between giant viruses and amoebae. These unprecedented interactions involve the giant viruses mimivirus, marseillevirus, tupanviruses and faustovirus, all of which modulate the amoeba environment, affecting both their replication and their spread to new hosts.

中文翻译：

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巨型病毒与变形虫：争霸。

自发现mimivirus以来，已经描述了许多与自由生活的变形虫相关的巨型病毒。巨型病毒的基因组可以超过2.5兆碱基，并且病毒颗粒可以超过许多细菌的大小。这些病毒的出乎意料的特征使它们成为有趣的研究目标，因此，专注于其与变形虫宿主相互作用的研究受到了越来越多的关注。研究表明，巨型病毒可以建立宿主与病原体的相互作用，这以前没有得到证实，包括与寄生于其病毒工厂的新型小病毒（称为噬菌体）的空前相互作用。在这篇简短的评论中，我们介绍了在巨噬病毒-病毒-宿主相互作用中的最新进展，并重点介绍了涉及巨型病毒和变形虫之间相互作用的选定研究。这些空前的相互作用涉及巨大的病毒，如拟病毒，马赛病毒，吐鲁番病毒和梭状病毒，它们都可以调节变形虫的环境，从而影响其复制和传播到新的宿主。