Marseilleviridae
Classification
Viruses; Viridnavira; Bamfordviria; Nucleocytoviricota; megaviricetes; primascovirales [Others may be used. Use NCBI link to find]
Species
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NCBI: [1] |
Genus species
Description and Significance
Describe the appearance, habitat, etc. of the organism, and why you think it is important.
largest microbe discovered, infect amoebae. the first one was isolated by culturing on amoebae from a water sample collected from a cooling tower in Paris, France it has a capsid of around 250nm, with a 10nm thick capsid shell. it is roughly icosahedral in shape and surrounded by 12nm long fibers with globular ends. they are most common in freshwater, however two were found in humans (symptom free) and one was found in dipteran
Genome Structure
Describe the size and content of the genome. How many chromosomes? Circular or linear? Other interesting features? What is known about its sequence?
like other viruses, the genome is a circular, double stranded DNA molecule. the genome is 368,454 base pairs in length with a CG content of 44.7% and encodes around 457 proteins
it is the 5th largest viral genome ever sequenced and is unusually rich in serine/threonine protein kinases. this prediction of 15 protein ligases suggests that versatile signaling is extremely important aspect of the interaction between marseilleviridae and amoeba. Marseillevirus also encodes proteins which were not previously seen in nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses. specifically, histone-like proteins.
Cell Structure, Metabolism and Life Cycle
Interesting features of cell structure; how it gains energy; what important molecules it produces.
Ecology and Pathogenesis
Habitat; symbiosis; biogeochemical significance; contributions to environment.
If relevant, how does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.
References
Author
Page authored by Abbigail McArthur, student of Prof. Bradley Tolar at UNC Wilmington.
