With
a genome of more than 700 kilobases, a newly discovered virus marks the
first giant virus known to infect a marine organism, and the second
largest virus ever recorded.
 |
| Image: Wikimedia commons |
The discovery, published this week in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS),
adds to the growing list of giant DNA viruses and suggests that these
viruses, which appear to obtain much of their large genomes from their
hosts and other microorganisms, may be more commonplace than scientists
once believed.
"It's really interesting, and a completely different way of seeing viruses," said microbiologist
Didier Raoult
of the University of the Mediterranean in Marseille, France, who was
not involved in the research. "It's a completely new field that is
emerging."
