Mollivirus sibericum

Mollivirus sibericum
Virus classification Edit this classification
(unranked): Virus
Genus: Mollivirus
Species:
Mollivirus sibericum

Mollivirus sibericum is a giant virus discovered in 2015 by French researchers Chantal Abergel and Jean-Michel Claverie in a 30,000-year-old sample of Siberian permafrost, where the team had previously found the unrelated giant virus Alphapithovirus sibericum. Mollivirus sibericum is a spherical DNA virus with a diameter of 500–600 nanometers (0.5–0.6 μm).[1][2]

Mollivirus sibericum is the fourth ancient virus that scientists have found frozen in permafrost since 2003.[3] It has a sister taxon, Mollivirus kamchatka.[4]

  1. ^ Legendre, Matthieu; Lartigue, Audrey; Bertaux, Lionel; Jeudy, Sandra; Bartoli, Julia; Lescot, Magali; Alempic, Jean-Marie; Ramus, Claire; Bruley, Christophe; Labadie, Karine; Shmakova, Lyubov; Rivkina, Elizaveta; Couté, Yohann; Abergel, Chantal; Claverie, Jean-Michel (8 September 2015). "In-depth study of, a new 30,000-y-old giant virus infecting". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (38): E5327–E5335. doi:10.1073/pnas.1510795112. PMC 4586845. PMID 26351664.
  2. ^ Christensen, Jen (11 September 2015). "Ancient squirrel's nest leads to discovery of giant virus". CNN. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  3. ^ Feltman, Rachel A giant ancient virus was just uncovered in melting ice — and it won't be the last Washington Post. 14 December 2015
  4. ^ Christo-Foroux, Eugene; Alempic, Jean-Marie; Lartigue, Audrey; Santini, Sebastien; Labadie, Karine; Legendre, Matthieu; Abergel, Chantal; Claverie, Jean-Michel (31 March 2020). "Characterization of Mollivirus kamchatka, the First Modern Representative of the Proposed Molliviridae Family of Giant Viruses". Journal of Virology. 94 (8). doi:10.1128/jvi.01997-19. OCLC 9173294733. Retrieved 17 August 2024.