Publications des scientifiques de l'IRD

Boughalmi M., Pagnier I., Aherfi S., Colson P., Raoult Didier, La Scola B. (2013). First Isolation of a giant virus from wild Hirudo medicinalis Leech : mimiviridae isolation in Hirudo medicinalis. Viruses-Basel, 5 (12), p. 2920-2930. ISSN 1999-4915.

Titre du document
First Isolation of a giant virus from wild Hirudo medicinalis Leech : mimiviridae isolation in Hirudo medicinalis
Année de publication
2013
Type de document
Article référencé dans le Web of Science WOS:000330523400001
Auteurs
Boughalmi M., Pagnier I., Aherfi S., Colson P., Raoult Didier, La Scola B.
Source
Viruses-Basel, 2013, 5 (12), p. 2920-2930 ISSN 1999-4915
Giant viruses and amoebae are common in freshwater, where they can coexist with other living multicellular organisms. We screened leeches from the species Hirudo medicinalis for giant viruses. We analyzed five H. medicinalis obtained from Tunisia (3) and France (2). The leeches were decontaminated and then dissected to remove internal parts for co-culture with Acanthamoeba polyphaga. The genomes of isolated viruses were sequenced on a 454 Roche instrument, and a comparative genomics analysis was performed. One Mimivirus was isolated and the strain was named Hirudovirus. The genome assembly generated two scaffolds, which were 1,155,382 and 25,660 base pairs in length. Functional annotations were identified for 47% of the genes, which corresponds to 466 proteins. The presence of Mimividae in the same ecological niche as wild Hirudo may explain the presence of the mimivirus in the digestive tract of the leech, and several studies have already shown that viruses can persist in the digestive tracts of leeches fed contaminated blood. As leeches can be used medically and Mimiviruses have the potential to be an infectious agent in humans, patients treated with leeches should be surveyed to investigate a possible connection.
Plan de classement
Sciences fondamentales / Techniques d'analyse et de recherche [020] ; Entomologie médicale / Parasitologie / Virologie [052] ; Sciences du monde animal [080]
Identifiant IRD
PAR00011501
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