Talk:Mimivirus/GA1

GA Reassessment

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Commencing GA reassessment as part of the GA Sweeps process. ✽ Juniper§ Liege ^(TALK) 16:46, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

Issues identified

This article clearly no longer meets GA criteria, and needs to be vastly improved or will be delisted. It is rather choppy, with various sentence fragments and short paragraphs. Points are made but not expanded upon.

Additionally, the subject matter is treated in a rather cursory fashion. The "Discovery" section needs to be expanded or merged with "Classification" - it is too short on its own. Same for the "References in popular culture" section.

There is also a problem with referencing throughout the article:

• (Classification) "It has however, been placed into Group I of the Baltimore classification system." No reference.

• (Classification) "Whilst 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." Does the reference given here also refer to the statement made in the preceeding sentence about Mimivirus joining "a group of large viruses..."

• (Structure) "The mimivirus is larger than all previously discovered viruses, with a capsid diameter of 400 nm. Protein filaments measuring 100 nm project from the surface of the capsid, bringing the total length of the virus up to 600 nm. Variation in scientific literature renders these figures as highly approximate, with the "size" of the virion being casually listed as anywhere between 400 nm and 800 nm, depending on whether total length or capsid diameter is actually quoted. The capsid appears hexagonal under an electron microscope, therefore the capsid symmetry is icosahedral." This paragraph concludes with a single reference.... however, pages should be given to where the source cites the various facts stated throughout the paragraph.

• (Structure) There is only a single source (reference 7) cited for all the facts presented from "Mimivirus shares several morphological characteristics ... Herpes simplex virus type-1, also feature pre-packaged mRNA transcripts". Again, page references should be given for all the various facts presented, rather than just referencing the source at the end of the paragraphs. It is otherwise difficult to tell what is being sourced and what isn't.

• (Genome) "Roughly 90% of the genome was of coding capacity, with the other 10% being “junk DNA”." No reference for this statement.

• (Replication) "Little is known about the details of this replication cycle, most obviously attachment to the cell surface and entry, viral core release, DNA replication, transcription, translation, assembly and release of progeny virions. However, scientists have established the general overview given above using electron micrographs of infected cells. These micrographs show mimivirus capsid assembly in the nucleus, acquisition of an inner lipid membrane via budding from the nucleus, and particles similar to those found in many other viruses, including all NCLDV members. These particles are known in other viruses as viral factories and allow efficient viral assembly by modifying large areas of the host cell." No reference.

• (Implications for defining "life") "Mimivirus possesses many characteristics which place it at the boundary of living and non-living. It is as large as several bacterial species, such as Rickettsia conorii and Tropheryma whipplei, possesses a genome of comparable size to several bacteria, including those above, and codes for products previously not thought to be encoded by viruses. In addition, mimivirus possesses genes coding for nucleotide and amino acid synthesis, which even some small obligate intracellular bacteria lack. This means that unlike these bacteria, mimivirus is not dependent on the host cell genome for coding the metabolic pathways for these products. They do however, lack genes for ribosomal proteins, making mimivirus dependent for protein translation and energy metabolism. These factors combined have thrown scientists into debate over whether mimivirus is a distinct form of life, comparable on a domain scale to Eukarya, Archaea and Bacteria. Nevertheless, mimivirus does not exhibit the following characteristics, all of which are part of many conventional definitions of life: homeostasis, response to stimuli, growth in the normal sense of the term (instead replicating via self-assembly of individual components) or undergoing cellular division." No references accompany this paragraph.

Referencing needs to be fixed before the article can even be considered to meet GA standards. ✽ Juniper§ Liege ^(TALK) 17:35, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

Main Reassessment

To uphold the quality of Wikipedia:Good articles, all articles listed as Good articles are being reviewed against the GA criteria as part of the GA project quality task force. While all the hard work that has gone into this article is appreciated, unfortunately, as of February 12, 2010, this article fails to satisfy the criteria, as detailed below. For that reason, the article has been delisted from WP:GA. However, if improvements are made bringing the article up to standards, the article may be nominated at WP:GAN. If you feel this decision has been made in error, you may seek remediation at WP:GAR.

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose):

   • Poor textual flow; too many stand-alone sentences/paragraphs.

   b (MoS):

   • Conforms to manual of style.

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (references):

   • Article contains statements and information which are not references or properly sourced. Poor prose and referencing means it is difficult to ascertain to what information sources apply.

   b (citations to reliable sources):

   • Citations are to third party publications.

   c (OR):

   • No evidence of OR.

3. It is broad in its scope.

   a (major aspects):

   • Article is too narrowly focused, and many points need expansion. There are facts and issues raised on the talk page that are not included in the article (such as whether the Mimivirus is still the largest virus). Additionally, there seems to be no recent material; I dare say further information on the Mimivirus has come to light in the last 5 years.

   b (focused):

   • Remains focused. No digressions.

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy:

   • No issues concerning POV evident.

5. It is stable:

   • No edit wars etc.

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales):

   • There are no images supplied in the article; whilst it may not be possible to obtain any, given the scientific and educational nature of the article, it would be surprising if there were nothing.

   b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

   • Images are accompanied by contextual captions.

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail: DELISTED ✽ Juniper§ Liege ^(TALK) 18:01, 12 February 2010 (UTC)