page_title: Mimiviridae
section_title: Structure
hierarchical_section_title: Mimiviridae / Structure
caption_attribution_description: English: (A) Mature BsV virion: DNA containing core is surrounded by two putative membranous layers. The capsid consists of at least two proteinaceous layers. The bright halo hints to the presence of short (~40 nm) fibers as observed in ApMV. The top vertex of the virion contains a possible stargate structure (See also Figure 2—figure supplement 1). (Scale bar = 100 nm) (B) Healthy Bodo saltans cell: Nucleus with nucleolus and heterochromatin structures (Back arrow head) and kinetoplast genome (white arrow head) are clearly visible. (Scale bar = 500 nm) (C) Cell of Bodo saltans 24 hr post-BsV infection: Most subcellular compartments of healthy cells have been displaced by the virus factory now taking up a third of the cell. Virion production is directed toward the periphery of the cell (black arrow). Kinetoplast genome remains intact (white arrow head) while the nuclear genome is degraded (black arrow head; Scale bar = 500 nm) (D) BsV virion assembly and maturation: Lipid vesicles migrate through the virion factory where capsid proteins attach for the proteinaceous shell. Vesicles burst and accumulate at the virus factory periphery where the capsid assembly completes (black arrow). Once the capsid is assembled, the virion is filled with the genome and detaches from the virus factory. Internal structures develop inside the virion in the cell’s periphery where mature virions accumulate until the host cell bursts (Scale bar = 500 nm). (Deeg CM, Chow C-ET, Suttle CA (2018) The kinetoplastid-infecting Bodo saltans virus (BsV), a window into the most abundant giant viruses in the sea. eLife 7:e33014. https://elifesciences.org/articles/33014)
context_page_description: Mimiviridae is a family of viruses. Amoeba and other protists serve as natural hosts. The family is divided in up to 4 subfamilies. Viruses in this family belong to the nucleocytoplasmic large DNA virus clade, also referred to as giant viruses.
  Mimiviridae is the sole recognized member of order Imitervirales. Phycodnaviridae and Pandoraviridae of Algavirales are sister groups of Mimiviridae in many phylogenetic analyses.
context_section_description: Viruses in Mimiviridae have icosahedral and round geometries, with between T=972 and T=1141, or T=1200 symmetry. The diameter is around 400 nm, with a length of 125 nm. Genomes are linear and non-segmented, around 1200kb in length. The genome has 911 open reading frames.
caption: Ultrastructure of Bodo saltans virus particles and its replication
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