dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaMimivirus Relatives in the Sargasso Sea
| Authors | Elodie Ghedin, Jean-Michel Claverie |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0504014 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0504014 |
Abstract
The discovery and genome analysis of Acanthamoeba polyphaga Mimivirus, the largest known DNA virus, challenged much of the accepted dogma regarding viruses. Its particle size (>400 nm), genome length (1.2 million bp) and huge gene repertoire (911 protein coding genes) all contribute to blur the established boundaries between viruses and the smallest parasitic cellular organisms. Phylogenetic analyses also suggested that the Mimivirus lineage could have emerged prior to the individualization of cellular organisms from the three established domains, triggering a debate that can only be resolved by generating and analyzing more data. The next step is then to seek some evidence that Mimivirus is not the only representative of its kind and determine where to look for new Mimiviridae. An exhaustive similarity search of all Mimivirus predicted proteins against all publicly available sequences identified many of their closest homologues among the Sargasso Sea environmental sequences. Subsequent phylogenetic analyses suggested that unknown large viruses evolutionarily closer to Mimivirus than to any presently characterized species exist in abundance in the Sargasso Sea. Their isolation and genome sequencing could prove invaluable in understanding the origin and diversity of large DNA viruses, and shed some light on the role they eventually played in the emergence of eukaryotes.
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"abstract": "The discovery and genome analysis of Acanthamoeba polyphaga Mimivirus, the\nlargest known DNA virus, challenged much of the accepted dogma regarding\nviruses. Its particle size (\u003e400 nm), genome length (1.2 million bp) and huge\ngene repertoire (911 protein coding genes) all contribute to blur the\nestablished boundaries between viruses and the smallest parasitic cellular\norganisms. Phylogenetic analyses also suggested that the Mimivirus lineage\ncould have emerged prior to the individualization of cellular organisms from\nthe three established domains, triggering a debate that can only be resolved by\ngenerating and analyzing more data. The next step is then to seek some evidence\nthat Mimivirus is not the only representative of its kind and determine where\nto look for new Mimiviridae. An exhaustive similarity search of all Mimivirus\npredicted proteins against all publicly available sequences identified many of\ntheir closest homologues among the Sargasso Sea environmental sequences.\nSubsequent phylogenetic analyses suggested that unknown large viruses\nevolutionarily closer to Mimivirus than to any presently characterized species\nexist in abundance in the Sargasso Sea. Their isolation and genome sequencing\ncould prove invaluable in understanding the origin and diversity of large DNA\nviruses, and shed some light on the role they eventually played in the\nemergence of eukaryotes.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0504014",
"authors": [
"Elodie Ghedin",
"Jean-Michel Claverie"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.PE"
],
"title": "Mimivirus Relatives in the Sargasso Sea",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0504014"
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