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Published Online October 14, 2004
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1101485

Research Articles

Submitted on June 15, 2004
Accepted on September 22, 2004

The 1.2-Mb Genome Sequence of Mimivirus

Didier Raoult 1*, Stéphane Audic 2, Catherine Robert 1, Chantal Abergel 2, Patricia Renesto 1, Hiroyuki Ogata 2, Bernard La Scola 1, Marie Susan 1, Jean-Michel Claverie 2*

1 Unité des Rickettsies, Faculté de Médecine, CNRS UMR6020, Université de la Méditerranée, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.
2 Information Génomique et Structurale, CNRS UPR2589, IBSM, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Didier Raoult , E-mail: Didier.Raoult{at}medecine.univ-mrs.fr
Jean-Michel Claverie , E-mail: Jean-Michel.Claverie{at}igs.cnrs-mrs.fr

We recently reported the discovery and preliminary characterization of Mimivirus, the largest known virus, with a 400-nm particle size comparable to mycoplasma. Mimivirus is a double-stranded DNA virus growing in amoebae. We now present its 1,181,404-bp genome sequence, consisting of 1262 putative ORFs, 10% of which exhibit a significant similarity with proteins of known functions. In addition to exceptional genome size, Mimivirus exhibits many features that distinguish it from other nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses. The most unexpected is the presence of numerous genes encoding central protein translation components, including 4 amino-acyl tRNA synthetases, peptide release factor 1, translation elongation factor EF-TU, and translation initiation factor 1. The genome also exhibit 6 tRNAs. Other remarkable features include the presence of both type I and type II topoisomerases, of components of all DNA repair pathways, of many polysaccharide synthesis enzymes, and of one intein-containing gene. The size and complexity of Mimivirus genome challenge the established frontier between viruses and parasitic cellular organisms. This new sequence data might help shed a new light on the origin of DNA viruses and their role in the early evolution of eukaryotes.


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