Pandoravirus
Pandoravirus is a genus of very large viruses. They have the largest genomes of any viral genus.[3] Like the other large viruses Mimivirus, Pithovirus and Megavirus, Pandoravirus infects amoebas. Its genome, with 1.9 to 2.5 megabases of DNA, is twice as large as that of Megavirus.[4] It differs greatly from the other large viruses in appearance and in genome structure.[5]
| Pandoravirus | |
|---|---|
| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group I (dsDNA)
|
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: | Pandoravirus
|
| Species | |
Although the capsid of Pithovirus is 50% larger in size,[6] Pandoravirus has the largest genome of all viruses (2.5 million base pairs).[5]
About 93% of Pandoravirus genes are not known from any other microbes.[7] This led some scientists to suggest the virus belongs to a "fourth domain", aside from Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes.[7] Viruses as a whole are not considered to be within these three domains, but they have been proposed as one in the past by some biologists.[8]
Related page
References
- ↑ 'Pandoravirus dulcis'. NCBI Taxonomy Browser.
- ↑ 'Pandoravirus salinus'. NCBI Taxonomy Browser.
- ↑ Yong, Ed. Giant virus resurrected from 30,000-year-old ice: Nature News & Comment. Nature (2014). doi:10.1038/nature.2014.14801.
- ↑ A megabase is a million base pairs of nucleic acids.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Brumfiel, Geoff (18 July 2013). "World's biggest virus may have ancient roots". National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/07/18/203298244/worlds-biggest-virus-may-have-ancient-roots. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ↑ Sirucek, Stefan (3 March 2014). "Ancient "giant virus" revived from Siberian permafrost". National Geographic. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140303-giant-virus-permafrost-siberia-pithovirus-pandoravirus-science/.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Dell'Amore, Christine (19 July 2013). Biggest Virus Yet Found, May Be Fourth Domain of Life?. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130718-viruses-pandoraviruses-science-biology-evolution/. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ↑ Berezow, Alex B. (16 November 2014). Simmer Down: Viruses Not 'Fourth Domain' of Life | RealClearScience. https://www.realclearscience.com/journal_club/2014/11/17/simmer_down_viruses_not_fourth_domain_of_life_108944.html. Retrieved 20 March 2018.