Figure 1. Premise picture.

This picture illustrates Mimiviruses in the amoebas when first detected by the French authors ⁶. Viral particles appeared as Gram-positive fine blue granules (black arrows) resembling bacterial cocci, from which the name Mimiviruses, was derived, i.e. Mimicking microbes. The blue gram positive granules in the cytoplasm of the amoeba ( A and B) proved to be Mimiviruses and not bacteria when viewed using electron microscopy ( C). Permission to use this picture was kindly provided by Prof La Scola Bernard.