Marseilleviridae

[6][7] It is a member of the nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses clade.

[1] The first member of this family recognized has been named Acanthamoeba polyphaga marseillevirus.

Another member of this family has been isolated from blood donors.

[8] The viruses appear to fall into at least 3 lineages: (1) Marseillevirus and Cannes8virus (2) Insectomime and Tunisvirus and (3) Lausannevirus.

A sixth potential member of this family—Melbournevirus—appears to be related to the Marseillevirus/Cannes8virus clade.

[6] A promoter sequence—AAATATTT—has been found associated with 55% of the identified genes in this virus.

The typical form of the virions of the Marseilleviridae is, in principle, similar to that of the Mimiviridae .
Images of cryo-frozen Marseilleviridae particles (left and center) and enlarged diagram of structure near a vertex. Black arrows indicate Large Dense Bodies. White arrows indicate lipid bilayer.