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We recently reported the discovery and preliminary characterizationof Mimivirus, the largest known virus, with a 400-nanometerparticle size comparable to mycoplasma. Mimivirus is a double-strandedDNA virus growing in amoebae. We now present its 1,181,404basepair genome sequence, consisting of 1262 putative open readingframes, 10% of which exhibit a similarity to proteins of knownfunctions. In addition to exceptional genome size, Mimivirusexhibits many features that distinguish it from other nucleocytoplasmiclarge DNA viruses. The most unexpected is the presence of numerousgenes encoding central protein-translation components, includingfour amino-acyl transfer RNA synthetases, peptide release factor1, translation elongation factor EF-TU, and translation initiationfactor 1. The genome also exhibits six tRNAs. Other notablefeatures include the presence of both type I and type II topoisomerases,components of all DNA repair pathways, many polysaccharide synthesisenzymes, and one intein-containing gene. The size and complexityof the Mimivirus genome challenge the established frontier betweenviruses and parasitic cellular organisms. This new sequencedata might help shed a new light on the origin of DNA virusesand their role in the early evolution of eukaryotes.
1 Unité des Rickettsies, Faculté de Médecine, CNRS UMR6020, Université de la Méditerranée, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France. 2 Information Génomique et Structurale (IGS), CNRS UPR2589, Institut de Biologie Structurale et Microbiologie, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Jean-Michel.Claverie{at}igs.cnrs-mrs.fr (J.-M.C.); Didier.Raoult{at}medecine.univ-mrs.fr (D.R.)
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