Mimivirus and Mimiviridae: Giant viruses with an increasing number of potential hosts, including corals and sponges
Mimivirus and Mimiviridae: Giant viruses with an increasing number of potential hosts, including corals and sponges
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jip.2009.03.011
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发表时间：
2009-07-01
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Abergel, Chantal
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Claverie, Jean-Michel;Grzela, Renata;Abergel, Chantal
Mimivirus是一种巨大的DNA病毒。感染棘阿米巴属的一种，于2003年首次发现。它的颗粒直径为0.7 μ m，基因组大小为1.2 Mb，编码900多种蛋白质，是迄今为止描述的最复杂的病毒。除了其不同寻常的大小之外，研究人员还发现，Mimivirus基因组包含了许多被认为是细胞生物标志的基因的第一个病毒同源物，比如翻译装置的中心成分。这些发现重新引发了关于DNA病毒起源的争论，以及它们在真核生物出现过程中可能扮演的角色。已发表的和正在进行的关于Mimivirus的研究继续在许多方面带来意想不到的发现，例如其颗粒的结构、其复制周期的独特特征，或Mimivirus在海洋中的近亲的分布和丰度。在总结了这些最近的发现之后，我们提出了初步的结果，表明八珊瑚可能与mimivirridae的一个祖先有过密切的接触，而现代海绵可能是mimivirridae的一个尚未确定的、更大的成员的宿主。(C) 2009爱思唯尔公司版权所有。
Mimivirus, a giant DNA virus (i.e. "girus") infecting species of the genus Acanthamoeba, was first identified in 2003. With a particle size of 0.7 mu m in diameter, and a genome size of 1.2 Mb encoding more than 900 proteins, it is the most complex virus described to date. Beyond its unusual size, the Mimivirus genome was found to contain the first viral homologues of many genes thought to be the trademark of cellular organisms, such as central components of the translation apparatus. These findings revived the debate on the origin of DNA viruses, and the role they might have played in the emergence of eukaryotes. Published and ongoing Studies on Mimivirus Continue to lead to unexpected findings concerning a variety of aspects, such as the structure of its particle, unique features of its replication cycle, or the distribution and abundance of Mimivirus relatives in the oceans. Following a summary of these recent findings, we present preliminary results suggesting that octocorals might have come in close contact with an ancestor of Mimivirus, and that modern sponges might be host to a yet unidentified, even larger, member of the Mimiviridae. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.