Mimivirus
| Mimivirus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Mimivirus with two satellite Sputnik virophages (arrows) [1] | |
Virus classification 
| |
| (unranked): | Virus |
| Realm: | incertae sedis |
| Kingdom: | incertae sedis |
| Phylum: | incertae sedis |
| Class: | incertae sedis |
| Order: | incertae sedis |
| Family: | Mimiviridae |
| Genus: | Mimivirus |
| Species[source?] | |
Mimivirus is an extra-large virus. It was discovered in 1992.
APMV was found accidentally inside the amoeba Acanthamoeba polyphaga.[2] The virus was seen in a gram stain and mistakenly thought to be a gram-positive bacterium.
It is either a viral genus with a single species, Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (APMV), or it is a group of phylogenetically-related large viruses (MimiN).[3]
In speech, APMV is usually referred to as "mimivirus". Until October 2011, when an even larger virus Megavirus chilensis was described, it was the largest (capsid diameter) of all known viruses.[4]
Mimivirus has a large and complex genome compared with most other viruses. Mimivirus, short for "mimicking microbe", is so called for its large size and Gram-staining properties.[5]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Duponchel, S. and Fischer, M.G. (2019) "Viva lavidaviruses! Five features of virophages that parasitize giant DNA viruses". PLoS pathogens, 15(3). doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1007592.
Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- ↑ Richard Birtles; TJ Rowbotham; C Storey; TJ Marrie; Didier Raoult (29 Mar 1997). "Chlamydia-like obligate parasite of free-living amoebae". The Lancet. 349 (9056): 925–926. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)62701-8. PMID 9093261. S2CID 5382736.
- ↑ Ghedin E. & Claverie J. 2005. Mimivirus relatives in the Sargasso sea. Virology 2: 62. [1]
- ↑ "World's biggest virus found in sea off Chile". London: Telegraph UK. 11 October 2011. Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
- ↑ Wessner, D R (2010). "Discovery of the giant mimivirus". Nature Education. 3 (9): 61. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
