Images of cryo-frozenMarseilleviridae particles (left and center) and enlarged diagram of structure near a vertex. Black arrows indicate Large Dense Bodies. White arrows indicate lipid bilayer.
Additional species have since been recognized.[1] The first member of this family recognized has been namedAcanthamoeba polyphaga marseillevirus. A second member isAcanthamoeba castellanii lausannevirus. Two additional viruses have been isolated but have yet to be named. Another member of this family has been isolated from blood donors.[4] An isolate from insects—Insectomime virus—has also been reported.[8]
The viruses appear to fall into at least 3 lineages: (1)Marseillevirus andCannes8virus (2)Insectomime andTunisvirus and (3)Lausannevirus. A sixth potential member of this family—Melbournevirus—appears to be related to theMarseillevirus/Cannes8virus clade.[9]
A seventh virus—Brazilian Marseillevirus—has been reported.[10] This virus appears to belong to a fourth lineage of virus in this family.
Another virus—Tokyovirus—has also been reported.[11]
Viruses inMarseilleviridae have icosahedral geometries. The diameter is around 250 nm. Genomes are circular, around 372kb in length. The genome has 457 open reading frames.[6]
A promoter sequence—AAATATTT—has been found associated with 55% of the identified genes in this virus.[14] Most of these sequences occur in multiple copies.[14]
^Chatterjee, Anirvan; Kondabagil, Kiran (2017). "Complete genome sequence of Kurlavirus, a novel member of the family Marseilleviridae isolated in Mumbai, India".Archives of Virology.162 (10):3243–3245.doi:10.1007/s00705-017-3469-z.PMID28685284.S2CID3984074.
^Fabre E, Jeudy S, Santini S, Legendre M, Trauchessec M, Claverie J-M, et al (2017). Noumeavirus replication relies on a transient remote control of the host nucleus. Nat Commun 8:15087
