Giant virus possesses the most complete gene set of assembled proteins

Release date: 2018-03-02

A virology study published by the British journal Nature Communications recently reported that European scientists have discovered two strains of the giant virus Tupanvirus. The virus contains the most complete set of genes required for protein assembly in all known human viruses, as well as the genes needed to assemble all 20 amino acids into proteins, through which the evolution of the virus can be understood.

Giant viruses are much larger than most viruses, so that they were initially considered by scientists to be a bacterium, and it was not until 2003 that it was confirmed to be a virus. The emergence of giant viruses has sparked a heated debate in the scientific community about the evolution of viruses. At present, there are two main theories: a giant virus that is considered to be complex is evolved from a simple ancestor by acquiring the gene of the infected host; another believes that the ancestors of the giant virus may already be giant viruses, and the unwanted genes are Lost by the passage of time.

This time, Bernard Lassola, a researcher at Aix-Marseille University in France, and his colleagues discovered the giant virus Tupanvirus in a sample collected from an alkaline lake and deep-sea sediments in Brazil. Genomic analysis revealed that they contain genes similar to known viruses and organisms of the three life domains (archaea, bacterial, and eukaryotic domains). However, about 30% of the homologous genes of genes have not been found in other organisms.

The researchers compared the other viruses and found that the giant virus Tupanvirus contains the largest gene set involved in protein assembly and has the genes needed to assemble 20 amino acids into proteins. The origin of these genes is still unknown.

The research team concluded that further research is still needed at this stage, but the discovery of the giant virus Tupanvirus has meant that people have taken an important step toward understanding the evolution of the virus.

Source: Technology Daily

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