Large Virus for an Even Bigger Task: Can the Mimivirus Close the Gene-Therapy Vector Void?

Gene therapy holds exceptional biotechnological and medical potential, but it has not been able to unite efficient delivery with reliability over the years. Dependable genetic elements are often large and do not, quite simply, fit into the present line of efficient vectors or require therapy combinations to carefully regulate genetic constructs. Recently, however, a discovery in virology – the field of study that has produced the most efficient vectors to date – uncovered a virus with a threefold higher coding capacity than any previously described virus and, thus, can be envisioned to stimulate the development of a new line of vectors, which could combine the transfer of large, stable and reliable genetic elements with the efficiency associated with viruses. However, extensive further research is, required in order to probe the potential of this virus and verify the current hypothesis.