I know what you’re thinking – “We need a vaccine against this virus before it turns the entire street of Kuala Lumpur into a large statue exhibition!” While the thought of having random people being turned into central park’s decoration is absolutely horrifying, fortunately for us humans, this virus only infect a specific species of bacteria. And while Medusa (supposedly) resided in the Mediterranean, Medusavirus on the other hand was found in the hot springs of Japan by researchers from Kyoto University and Tokyo University of Science.
But from the scientific community’s perspective, this discovery was so exhilarating because the Medusavirus, is a very very large virus, earning its spot in the family of Giant viruses, specifically Nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs). Some of the viruses in this family can be bigger than a typical bacterium and for a while, scientists simply thought they were bacteria. The understanding and the true discovery of giant viruses only began at the start of the 21st century but they are continually surprising researchers by blurring the boundaries between viral particles and cellular life.
From laboratory tests, it was found that the amoebic host encodes many of Medusavirus’ homologs in its genome including the major capsid protein. This suggests that the interaction between the two has existed since ancient times and they have been transferring genes between each other since the dawn of the Cambrian period. Why this is so special? Because the interaction between this virus and its host asks new questions about the origin of life, the evolution of Eukaryotic organisms and the very fundamentals of what it means to be a virus.
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