Transcription profile of the medusavirus

Medusavirus is a giant virus, belonging to the proposed virus family of "Medusaviridae". This virus was firstly isolated in a hot spring in Japan. The genomic study revealed that within its 386kb genome, it lacks many transcription- and translation-related genes. In addition, it encodes a full set of histone genes, which is the first case among viruses. Except for annotated genes, 61% of viral genes are orphan genes, such a large number of orphan genes was proposed to be the ongoing de novo gene birth. Furthermore, the phylogenetic study revealed that this virus is located distantly to other giant viruses. However, so far we know nothing of the gene expression during the infection of this virus and how this virus regulates its gene expression.