Megavirus
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Megavirus | |
---|---|
Virus classification | |
Group: | Group I (
dsDNA ) |
(unranked): | Nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses |
Family: | Megaviridae |
Genus: | Megavirus
|
Species: | Megavirus chilense
|
Strains | |
|
Megavirus
Discovery
Megavirus was isolated from a water sample collected in April 2010 off the coast of Chile, near the marine station in Las Cruces, by Jean-Michel Claverie and Chantal Abergel from the Structural & Genomic Information laboratory (IGS, CNRS and Aix-Marseille University).[citation needed] Megavirus was isolated by co-cultivation with a variety of Acanthamoeba laboratory strains (Acanthamoeba polyphaga, Acanthamoeba castellanii, Acanthamoeba griffini)[citation needed] following a protocol pioneered by Timothy Rowbotham for isolating intracellular parasitic bacteria.[4] Megavirus infects amoebas.
Structure
The Megavirus particle exhibits a protein capsid diameter of 440 nanometres (as seen by electron microscopy on thin sections of epoxy resin inclusions), enclosed into a solid mesh of bacterial-like capsular material 75 nm to 100 nm thick. The capsid appears hexagonal, but its icosahedral symmetry is imperfect, due to the presence of the “stargate”, at a single specific vertex of the icosahedron. The stargate is a five-pronged star structure forming the portal through which the internal core of the particle is delivered to the host's cytoplasm. This core is enclosed within two lipid membranes in the particle, also containing a large and diverse complement of viral proteins (e.g. the all transcriptional complex).[citation needed] Surprisingly, the Megavirus is larger than some bacteria.
Genome
The Megavirus chilensis genome is a linear, double-stranded molecule of
See also
- Mimivirus – the giant virus that revolutionized virology
- Cafeteria roenbergensis virus – the largest marine virus
- Parvovirus – smallest known single stranded DNA viruses
- Pithovirus - largest virus by capsid length (approximately 1.5 micrometre)
- Pandoraviridae - second largest virus by capsid length (approximately 1 micrometre)
- Virophage
References
External links
- GiantVirus.org – an information resource on the genome of giant viruses.
- International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) picture gallery - images of mimivirus
- Van Etten, James L. (2011). "Giant Viruses". American Scientist. 99 (4): 304. .