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“Megavirales”, a proposed new order for eukaryotic nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses

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Abstract

The nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs) comprise a monophyletic group of viruses that infect animals and diverse unicellular eukaryotes. The NCLDV group includes the families Poxviridae, Asfarviridae, Iridoviridae, Ascoviridae, Phycodnaviridae, Mimiviridae and the proposed family “Marseilleviridae”. The family Mimiviridae includes the largest known viruses, with genomes in excess of one megabase, whereas the genome size in the other NCLDV families varies from 100 to 400 kilobase pairs. Most of the NCLDVs replicate in the cytoplasm of infected cells, within so-called virus factories. The NCLDVs share a common ancient origin, as demonstrated by evolutionary reconstructions that trace approximately 50 genes encoding key proteins involved in viral replication and virion formation to the last common ancestor of all these viruses. Taken together, these characteristics lead us to propose assigning an official taxonomic rank to the NCLDVs as the order “Megavirales”, in reference to the large size of the virions and genomes of these viruses.

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Acknowledgments

Natalya Yutin and Eugene V. Koonin are supported by intramural funds of the US Department of Health and Human Services (to the National Library of Medicine). James Van Etten is partially supported by NIH Grant P20 RR15635 from the COBRE Program of the National Center for Research Resources.

Conflict of interest

There are no potential conflicts of interest or financial disclosures for any of the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité des Rickettsies, URMITE UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, IHU Méditerranée Infection, Aix-Marseille Université, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille Cedex 05, France

    Philippe Colson, Bernard La Scola & Didier Raoult

  2. Pôle des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Clinique et Biologique, Fédération de Bactériologie-Hygiène-Virologie, IHU Méditerranée Infection, Assistance Publique, Hôpitaux de Marseille, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Timone, 264 Rue Saint-Pierre, 13385, Marseille Cedex 05, France

    Philippe Colson, Xavier De Lamballerie, Bernard La Scola & Didier Raoult

  3. Unité des Virus Emergents, UMR190 Emergence des pathologies virales, Faculté de Médecine, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, EHSP French School of Public Health, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

    Xavier De Lamballerie

  4. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 38A, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD, 20894, USA

    Natalya Yutin & Eugene V. Koonin

  5. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Sassan Asgari

  6. UMR INRA-CNRS 7247, PRC, Centre INRA de Nouzilly, 37380, Nouzilly, France

    Yves Bigot

  7. Molecular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Dennis K. Bideshi

  8. Department of Microbiology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 45056, USA

    Xiao-Wen Cheng

  9. Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Brian A. Federici

  10. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0722, USA

    James L. Van Etten

  11. Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0900, USA

    James L. Van Etten

Authors
  1. Philippe Colson
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  2. Xavier De Lamballerie
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  3. Natalya Yutin
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  4. Sassan Asgari
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  5. Yves Bigot
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  6. Dennis K. Bideshi
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  7. Xiao-Wen Cheng
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  8. Brian A. Federici
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  9. James L. Van Etten
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  10. Eugene V. Koonin
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  11. Bernard La Scola
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  12. Didier Raoult
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Didier Raoult.

Additional information

S. Asgari, Y. Bigot, D. K. Bideshi, X.-W. Cheng and B. A. Federici belong to the Ascoviridae study group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV).

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Colson, P., De Lamballerie, X., Yutin, N. et al. “Megavirales”, a proposed new order for eukaryotic nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses. Arch Virol 158, 2517–2521 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-013-1768-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-013-1768-6

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