Posted : January 2012
Author :
Billionaire adventurer Richard Branson may have large-scale
plans for deep sea exploration, but a new ocean discovery makes big waves on a
microscopic level. A team of science researchers trawling the ocean floor have
just published their findings of the world’s new largest virus, found lurking
off the coast of Las Cruces, Chile. It’s so
big, it’s actual scientific name is Megavirus chilensis - and you can even view
it with a basic light microscope. The previous virus record holder was
Mimivirus, which boasted the largest diameter of any virus to date until
Megavirus came along.
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| Megavirus nudges out Mimivirus, the former heavyweight champion of the viral world |
The virus’ DNA features 1,259,197 base pairs, which encode
some parasitic bacteria-like features. Unlike a virus, bacteria is a cellular
organism - a virus can only infect and replicate itself within the cells of
other organisms. It even has some built-in DNA repairing enzymes which allow
the virus to repair damage from ultraviolet light, chemicals, and radiation.
Mimivirus was found in 1992, lurking in an amoeba in Bradford, England.
Its capsid, the protein shell housing the virus’ genetic material, was 400
nanometres wide. If that still sounds pretty tiny, most viruses fall in the
range between 20 and 300 nanometres, making both Mimivirus and the new
Megavirus titans of the microscopic world. Mimivirus and Megavirus are believed
to have diverged from a shared viral ancestor somewhere along the evolutionary
road, both developing into giant viruses in their own right.
~Blog Admin~
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