Megavirus

Megavirus is a viral genus, phylogenetically related to Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (APMV). In colloquial speech, Megavirus chilense is more commonly referred to as just "Megavirus". Until the discovery of pandoraviruses in 2013, it had the largest capsid diameter of all known viruses, as well as the largest and most complex genome among all known viruses.

== Discovery == Megavirus was isolated from a water sample collected in April 2010 off the coast of Chile, near the marine station in Las Cruces, by Jean-Michel Claverie and Chantal Abergel from the Structural & Genomic Information laboratory (IGS, CNRS and Aix-Marseille University). Megavirus was isolated by co-cultivation with a variety of Acanthamoeba laboratory strains (Acanthamoeba polyphaga, Acanthamoeba castellanii, Acanthamoeba griffini) following a protocol pioneered by Timothy Rowbotham for isolating intracellular parasitic bacteria. Megavirus infects amoebas.