mirusvirus

M3I1R1U1S1V4I1R1U1S1

noun

A virus of the phylum Mirusviricota, a widespread group of plankton-infecting viruses which forms a "missing link" between giant viruses and herpesviruses.

OriginLatin mīrus →
Scrabble 15
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Meanings

nounmirusvirus (plural mirusviruses)

plural mirusviruses

  1. biologyA virus of the phylum Mirusviricota, a widespread group of plankton-infecting viruses which forms a "missing link" between giant viruses and herpesviruses.

    Yet, a substantial fraction of mirusvirus genes, including hallmark transcription machinery genes missing in herpesviruses, are closely related homologues of giant eukaryotic DNA viruses from another viral realm, Varidnaviria.

    2023 April 19, Morgan Gaïa, Lingjie Meng, Eric Pelletier, Patrick Forterre, Chiara Vanni, Antonio Fernandez-Guerra, Olivier Jaillon, Patrick Wincker, Hiroyuki Ogata, Mart Krupovic, Tom O. Delmont, “Mirusviruses link herpesviruses to giant viruses”, in Nature, volume 616, London: Nature Portfolio, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 783

Origin

  1. Latinmīrus“wonderful, surprising, strange”
  2. Englishmirusvirus

From Latin mīrus (“wonderful, surprising, strange”) + virus.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

mirusvirus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mirusvirus

MLA

“mirusvirus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mirusvirus. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mirusvirus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mirusvirus.

Source: mirusvirus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.