Isolation and complete genome sequencing of Mimivirus bombay, a Giant Virus in sewage of Mumbai, India.

We report the isolation and complete genome sequencing of a new Mimiviridae family member, infecting Acanthamoeba castellanii, from sewage in Mumbai, India. The isolated virus has a particle size of about 435 nm and a 1,182,200-bp genome. A phylogeny based on the DNA polymerase sequence placed the isolate as a new member of the Mimiviridae family lineage A and was named as Mimivirus bombay. Extensive presence of Mimiviridae family members in different environmental niches, with remarkably similar genome size and genetic makeup, point towards an evolutionary advantage that needs to be further investigated. The complete genome sequence of Mimivirus bombay was deposited at GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ under the accession number KU761889.