Mimivirus

The first virophage to be discovered is Sputnik virophage. It was found accidentally while examining Mamavirus with an electron microscope. The Acanthamoeba that contained Mamavirus was found in a water cooling tower in Paris. Sputnik depends upon the co-infection of host cells by larger viruses known as Mamavirus and alone is incapable of infecting the host amoeba cell [9]. A versatile virophage capable of interacting with all three lineages of Mimivirus, Sputnik virophage reproduce by using the viral factories of the Mamavirus and in turn inhibit the replication of Mamavirus progeny. In addition to disrupting replication, Sputnik also causes a percentage of Mamavirus progeny to be deformed and not viable. It is notable as the amoebal host cell is indirectly helped by Sputnik because the abnormal Mamavirus particles produced render it less infective to the host cell. It is fascinating that the Sputnik virophage is aiding the host amoebal cell by moderating host virus activities. After Sputnik, the second virophage discovered is Mavirus virophage. Mavirus uses the second subfamily of Mimiviridae, Cafeteria roenbergensis virus (CroV) as its HHV. An interesting feature of Mavirus is that…