Classification
Mimivirus has been placed into a viral family by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses as a member of the Mimiviridae, and has been placed into Group I of the Baltimore classification system. Although not strictly a method of classification, Mimivirus joins a group of large viruses known as nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV). They are all large viruses which share both molecular characteristics and large genomes. The mimivirus genome also possesses 21 genes encoding homologs to proteins which are seen to be highly conserved in the majority of NCLDVs, and further work suggests that mimivirus is an early divergent of the general NCLDV group.
Read more about this topic: Mimivirus