Marseillevirus

Marseillevirus
Virus classification
Group:	Group I (dsDNA)
Family:	Marseilleviridae
Genus:	Marseillevirus
Species
Marseillevirus

The Marseillevirus is the prototype of a family of nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV) of eukaryotes (commonly known as Giant Viruses). It was isolated from amoeba.^[1]

The genome of the virus includes typical NCLDV core genes and genes apparently obtained from eukaryotic hosts and their parasites or symbionts, both bacterial and viral, through probably horizontal gene transfer mechanism.

History

The virus is named after the French town of Marseille.

Virology

The genome has a length of 368-kb, with a G+C content of 44.73%, which makes Marseillevirus the fifth largest viral genome sequenced so far. It encodes a minimum of 49 proteins, and some messenger RNAs.

References

1. ^ Mickaël Boyer, Natalya Yutin, Isabelle Pagnier, Lina Barrassi, Ghislain Fournous, Leon Espinosa, Catherine Robert, Saïd Azza, Siyang Sun, Michael G. Rossmann, Marie Suzan-Monti, Bernard La Scola, Eugene V. Koonin, and Didier Raoult (2009). "Giant Marseillevirus highlights the role of amoebae as a melting pot in emergence of chimeric microorganisms". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106 (51): 21848–53. doi:10.1073/pnas.0911354106. PMC 2799887. PMID 20007369. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0022-2836(70)90057-4. 

See also

Other Giant viruses:

• Mimivirus
• Mamavirus
• Emiliania huxleyi virus 86
• Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus NY2A.

Reference