A universal taxonomy of viruses is essential for a comprehensive view of the virus world and
for communicating the complicated evolutionary relationships among viruses. However …

Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites. Despite their dependence on host cells, viruses
are evolutionarily autonomous, with their own genomes and evolutionary trajectories locked …

Whereas DNA viruses are known to be abundant, diverse, and commonly key ecosystem
players, RNA viruses are insufficiently studied outside disease settings. In this study, we …

DNA viruses have a major influence on the ecology and evolution of cellular organisms,,–,
but their overall diversity and evolutionary trajectories remain elusive. Here we carried out a …

SUMMARY Fifty years ago, David Baltimore published a brief conceptual paper delineating
the classification of viruses by the routes of genome expression. The six “Baltimore classes” …

Methanogenic archaea are major producers of methane, a potent greenhouse gas and
biofuel, and are widespread in diverse environments, including the animal gut. The …

Originally, viruses were defined as miniscule infectious agents that passed through filters
that retain even the smallest cells. Subsequently, viruses were considered obligate …

Viruses are considered to be the most abundant biological entities on earth. They also
display striking genetic diversity as emphatically demonstrated by the recent advances of …

Mutualistic plant-associated fungi are recognized as important drivers in plant evolution,
diversity, and health. The discovery that mycoviruses can take part and play important roles …

All extant eukaryotes descend from the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA), which is
thought to have featured complex cellular organization. To gain insight into LECA biology …