New discovery unlocks ocean biodiversity
Cryo-electron microscopy images of four CroV viruses (Photo: Iflscience).
In a discovery that has shocked the marine science community, researchers from the University of Miami (USA) have identified more than 230 new types of giant viruses, distributed throughout the world's oceans.
These creatures are forcing scientists to rethink the nature of viruses, not just as pathogens, but as essential links in global ecological networks and geochemical cycles.
“Giant viruses” is a term used to describe viruses with unusual particle sizes, up to 2 microns – about a quarter the size of a human red blood cell. In comparison, normal viruses range from 0.02 to 0.4 microns.
Not only are these giants superior in size, they also possess massive genomes of up to 2.5 million base pairs, far exceeding many typical viruses that only have tens of thousands of base pairs. Some strains also carry genes that were once thought to exist only in eukaryotes, blurring the line between viruses and living organisms.
What’s remarkable is that these viruses were overlooked by scientists for decades. The reason comes from the classic research method: using a 200 nanometer filter to separate viruses, meaning that viruses larger than that are simply eliminated at the outset.
Professor James Van Etten (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) explained: "Giant viruses used to be outside the traditional scientific definition simply because they were too large to filter through membranes."
This new discovery not only expands our understanding of viruses, but also raises many big questions about their biological and evolutionary roles, especially in the context of climate change and the study of extraterrestrial life.
Is there any potential risk of harm to humans?
Giant viruses discovered do not cause disease in humans or animals (Illustration photo).
With the addition of more than 230 new genomes, the study has significantly expanded the repository of marine viruses. This is not only a step forward in the field of virology, but also provides an important foundation for analyzing global metagenomic data, serving long-term studies of biodiversity and climate change.
What's unique is that the giant viruses discovered don't cause disease in humans or animals. Instead, they attack single-celled organisms like seaweed and amoebas - the basic links in the ocean food chain.
It is this ability to interact with and control algae that makes this group of viruses central to large-scale biological events, most notably “toxic algal blooms”—an increasingly worrisome environmental and public health problem, especially in coastal areas like Florida.
According to Dr. Mohammad Moniruzzaman, co-author of the study, shedding light on the diversity and role of giant viruses will contribute to more effective prediction and control of harmful biological phenomena in the ocean.
Not only stopping at the ecological aspect, this discovery also opens up opportunities for biotechnology. Some genes in the genome of giant viruses are capable of encoding previously unknown enzymes, with great potential for application in the biological industry, biomedicine and environmental treatment.
Another notable breakthrough was the discovery of genes involved in photosynthesis and carbon metabolism, which were previously thought to exist only in cellular organisms.
“The fact that a virus possesses photosynthetic genes suggests a profound level of control over the host’s metabolism, which in turn directly impacts the ocean’s carbon cycle,” said Benjamin Minch, a graduate student and lead author of the study.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc/phat-hien-hon-230-virus-khong-lo-kich-thuoc-vuot-xa-thong-thuong-20250612112748501.htm
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