Capsid diameter of largest known virus

Value 500 nm
Organism Acanthamoeba polyphaga Mimivirus
Reference Claverie JM, Ogata H, Audic S, Abergel C, Suhre K, Fournier PE. Mimivirus and the emerging concept of "giant" virus. Virus Res. 2006 Apr117(1):133-44. p.137 left column top paragraphPubMed ID16469402
Primary Source Raoult D, Audic S, Robert C, Abergel C, Renesto P, Ogata H, La Scola B, Suzan M, Claverie JM. The 1.2-megabase genome sequence of Mimivirus. Science. 2004 Nov 19 306(5700):1344-50PubMed ID15486256
Comments "Mimivirus particle consists into a capsid with a diameter of 500nm covered by 125nm long, closely packed fibers (primary source). Its icosahedral capsid exhibits a pseudo-triangulation number of approximately 1180 (Xiao et al., 2005) and then is made of approximately 24,000 molecules of the major capsid protein. However, there are no obvious biophysical rules that would preclude even larger particles to exist." For scaling see bacteriophage lambda capsid size 58nm BNID 103122, and BNID 104073, 103114, 103115 See Abergel et al., 2007 PMID 17855524, p.12406 left column top paragraph:"Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus is the largest known DNA virus. Its particle size (750 nm), genome length (1.2 million bp), and large gene repertoire (>910 protein-coding genes) blur the established boundaries between viruses and parasitic cellular organisms (primary source)."
Entered by Uri M
ID 105143