The virophage as a unique parasite of the giant mimivirus

Bernard La Scola, Christelle Desnues, Isabelle Pagnier, Catherine Robert, Lina Barrassi, Ghislain Fournous, Michèle Merchat, Marie Suzan-Monti, Patrick Forterre, Eugene Koonin and Didier Raoult ()
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Bernard La Scola: URMITE, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR IRD 6236, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France
Christelle Desnues: URMITE, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR IRD 6236, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France
Isabelle Pagnier: URMITE, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR IRD 6236, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France
Catherine Robert: URMITE, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR IRD 6236, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France
Lina Barrassi: URMITE, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR IRD 6236, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France
Ghislain Fournous: URMITE, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR IRD 6236, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France
Michèle Merchat: Climespace, 185 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, France
Marie Suzan-Monti: URMITE, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR IRD 6236, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France
Patrick Forterre: Biologie Moléculaire du Gène chez les Extrêmophiles, Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie, Bâtiment 409, Université Paris Sud, Centre d’Orsay, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
Eugene Koonin: National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Building 38A, Room 5N503, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20894, USA
Didier Raoult: URMITE, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR IRD 6236, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France

Nature, 2008, vol. 455, issue 7209, 100-104

Abstract: The biter BIT: Viral infections for viruses The first 'giant virus' isolate came from a cooling tower in Bradford, UK. Initially mistaken for a bacterium because of its size — three times larger than that of the biggest known viruses and bigger than many bacteria — it was found in the protozoon Acanthamoeba polyphaga. It was termed a mimivirus (for mimicking microbe) and became known as APMV (Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus). Now an even larger APMV strain, a 'mamavirus', has been isolated from a water cooling tower in Paris. Remarkably it is not alone, but is itself parasitized by a 'satellite virus'. Called Sputnik, it replicates in the virus factory built in amoebae co-infected with APMV. By analogy with bacteriophage, Sputnik is seen as the first virophage to be discovered. It may be the tip of a virophage iceberg, since metagenomic studies of ocean waters reveal an abundance of genetic sequences closely related to giant viruses, leading to a suspicion that they are a common parasite of plankton.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07218

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