Mimivirus

Mimivirus
	Mimivirus with two satellite Sputnik virophages (arrows)
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?]
	Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus; Acanthamoeba polyphaga moumouvirus; Borely moumouvirus; Courdo11 virus; LBA 111 virus; Mamavirus; Mimivirus bombay; Mimivirus gilmour; Mimivirus golden; Moumouvirus australiensis; Samba virus; Saudi moumouvirus; Shan virus; Terra1 virus; Terra2 virus;

Mimivirus is an extra-large virus. It was discovered in 1992.

APMV was found accidentally inside the amoeba Acanthamoeba polyphaga. 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).

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.

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.

References

↑ 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. Archived 2014-11-03 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "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.

[1] 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.

[2] 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.

[3] Ghedin E. & Claverie J. 2005. Mimivirus relatives in the Sargasso sea. Virology 2: 62. Archived 2014-11-03 at the Wayback Machine

[4] "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.

[nature-5] Wessner, D R (2010). "Discovery of the giant mimivirus". Nature Education. 3 (9): 61. Retrieved 2012-01-07.