Pandoraviridae
{{Short description|Family of viruses}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Virusbox
| image =Pandoravirus_virion.jpg
| image_caption =Pandoravirus virion
| taxon = Pandoraviridae
| synonyms =
| synonyms_ref =
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = Pandoravirus
}}
Pandoraviridae is a proposed family of double-stranded DNA viruses that infect amoebae. There is only one genus in this family: Pandoravirus. Several species in this genus have been described, including Pandoravirus dulcis, Pandoravirus salinus and Pandoravirus yedoma.{{cite journal | last=Yong | first=Ed | doi=10.1038/nature.2013.13410 | title=Giant viruses open Pandora's box | journal=Nature | date=18 July 2013 | s2cid=88440241 }}{{cite journal | title=Pandoraviruses: Amoeba Viruses with Genomes Up to 2.5 Mb Reaching That of Parasitic Eukaryotes | author=Nadège Philippe | journal=Science |date=July 2013 | volume=341 | issue=6143 | pages=281–6 | doi=10.1126/science.1239181 |pmid=23869018 | author2= Matthieu Legendre | author3= Gabriel Doutre | display-authors=3 | bibcode=2013Sci...341..281P | last4=Poirot | first4=Olivier | last5=Lescot | first5=Magali | last6=Arslan | first6=Defne | last7=Seltzer | first7=Virginie | last8=Bertaux | first8=Lionel | last9=Bruley | first9=Christophe | last10=Garin | first10=Jérome | last11=Claverie | first11=Jean-Michel | last12=Abergel | first12=Chantal| s2cid=16877147 |url=https://hal-cea.archives-ouvertes.fr/cea-00862677/file/phi.pdf }}
History
Description
The viruses in this family are the second largest known virus (~1 micrometer) in capsid length, after Pithovirus (1.5 micrometer).{{cite news | title=Ancient "Giant Virus" Revived From Siberian Permafrost | work=National Geographic | date=3 March 2014 | last=Sirucek | first=Stefan |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140303-giant-virus-permafrost-siberia-pithovirus-pandoravirus-science/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304020034/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140303-giant-virus-permafrost-siberia-pithovirus-pandoravirus-science/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=4 March 2014 }} Pandoravirus has the largest viral genome known, containing double-stranded DNA of 1.9 to 2.5 megabase pairs.{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/07/18/203298244/worlds-biggest-virus-may-have-ancient-roots | title=World's Biggest Virus May Have Ancient Roots | work=National Public Radio | date=18 July 2013 | access-date=18 July 2013 | author=Brumfiel, Geoff}}
Evolution
These viruses appear to be related to the phycodnaviruses.{{cite journal |vauthors=Yutin N, Koonin EV |title=Pandoraviruses are highly derived phycodnaviruses |journal=Biol. Direct |volume=8 |pages=25 |year=2013 |pmid=24148757 |pmc=3924356 |doi=10.1186/1745-6150-8-25 |doi-access=free }}{{cn|reason=inconsistencies, fluctuating results|date=August 2024}}