title: The expanding family Marseilleviridae.
abstract: The family Marseilleviridae encompasses giant viruses that replicate in free-living Acanthamoeba amoebae. Since the discovery of the founding member Marseillevirus in 2007, 7 new marseilleviruses have been observed, including 3 from environmental freshwater, one from a dipteran, and two from symptom-free humans. Marseilleviruses have ≈250-nm-large icosahedral capsids and 346-386-kb-long mosaic genomes that encode 444-497 predicted proteins. They share a small set of core genes with Mimivirus and other large and giant DNA viruses that compose a monophyletic group, first described in 2001. Comparative genomics analyses indicate that the family Marseilleviridae currently includes three lineages and a pan-genome composed of ≈600 genes. Antibodies against marseilleviruses and viral DNA have been observed in a significant proportion of asymptomatic individuals and in the blood and lymph nodes of a child with adenitis; these observations suggest that these giant viruses may be blood borne and question if they may be pathogenic in humans.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE) UM63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille Univ., 27 boulevard Jean Moulin, Faculté de Médecine, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France; Fondation Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection, Pôle des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Clinique et Biologique, Fédération de Bactériologie-Hygiène-Virologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Timone, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aherfi
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE) UM63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille Univ., 27 boulevard Jean Moulin, Faculté de Médecine, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France; Fondation Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection, Pôle des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Clinique et Biologique, Fédération de Bactériologie-Hygiène-Virologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Timone, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: La Scola
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE) UM63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille Univ., 27 boulevard Jean Moulin, Faculté de Médecine, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pagnier
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE) UM63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille Univ., 27 boulevard Jean Moulin, Faculté de Médecine, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France; Fondation Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection, Pôle des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Clinique et Biologique, Fédération de Bactériologie-Hygiène-Virologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Timone, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE) UM63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille Univ., 27 boulevard Jean Moulin, Faculté de Médecine, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France; Fondation Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection, Pôle des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Clinique et Biologique, Fédération de Bactériologie-Hygiène-Virologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Timone, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille, France. Electronic address: philippe.colson@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Colson
mesh_terms: D000048:Acanthamoeba / Q000821:virology*; D000818:Animals; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000821:virology; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D007313:Insecta / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral
keywords: Amoeba; Giant virus; Human; Marseilleviridae; Marseillevirus; Megavirales; Nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses