Contrary to common belief, not all viruses are harmful to their hosts. Sometimes viruses can even protect their hosts from infection by other viruses. Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 13, 2024
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Despite their name, giant viruses are difficult to visualize in detail. They are too big for conventional electron microscopy, yet too small for optical microscopy used to study larger specimens. Now, for the first time, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 19, 2022
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Amoebae receive surprising support in defense against viruses: The bacteria they are infected with prevent them from being destroyed by giant viruses. A research team led by microbiologist Matthias Horn from the Center for ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 29, 2022
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Giant viruses represent a unique group of viruses that are similar in size to small bacteria. Medusavirus—a special type of giant virus—was first isolated from a hot spring in Japan. Genetic studies showed that medusavirus ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 31, 2022
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For some giant viruses, a DNA-packing trick may be essential for infectivity.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 27, 2021
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Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay shed light on the origins of Mimivirus and other giant viruses to better understand a group of unique biological forms that shaped life on Earth. In their latest ...
Evolution
May 12, 2021
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Viruses are tiny invaders that cause a wide range of diseases, from rabies to tomato spotted wilt virus and, most recently, COVID-19 in humans. But viruses can do more than elicit sickness—and not all viruses are tiny.
Evolution
Nov 18, 2020
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166
In recent years, giant viruses have been unearthed in several of the world's most mysterious locations, from the thawing permafrost of Siberia to locations unknown beneath the Antarctic ice. But don't worry, "The Thing" is ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 8, 2020
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In satellite photos of the Earth, clouds of bright green bloom across the surface of lakes and oceans as algae populations explode in nutrient-rich water. From the air, the algae appear to be the primary players in the ecological ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 6, 2020
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While the microbes in a single drop of water could outnumber a small city's population, the number of viruses in the same drop—the vast majority not harmful to humans—could be even larger. Viruses infect bacteria, archaea ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 23, 2020
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