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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Isolation and Genome Analysis of Single Virions using 'Single Virus Genomics'
Published on: May 26, 2013
The complete genome sequence of PM2, the first lipid-containing bacterial virus To Be isolated
R H Männistö1, H M Kivelä, L Paulin
1Department of Biosciences and Institute of Biotechnology, Viikki Biocenter, Helsinki, FIN-00014, Finland.
Abstract:
Bacteriophage PM2 was isolated from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile in the late 1960s. It was a new virus type, later classified as Corticoviridae, and also the first bacterial virus for which it was demonstrated that lipids are part of the virion structure. Here we report the determination and analysis of the 10, 079-bp circular dsDNA genome sequence. Noteworthy discoveries are the replication initiation system, which is related to the rolling circle mechanism described for phages such as φX174 and P2, and a 1.2-kb sequence that is similar to the maintenance region of a plasmid found in a marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. strain A28.
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