The discovery of giant viruses, with capsids as large as some bacteria, megabase-range
genomes and a variety of traits typically found only in cellular organisms, was one of the …

More than a century ago, the term 'virus' was introduced to describe infectious agents that
are invisible by light microscopy and capable of passing through sterilizing filters. In addition …

While our knowledge about the roles of microbes and viruses in the ocean has increased
tremendously due to recent advances in genomics and metagenomics, research on marine …

The discovery of eukaryotic giant viruses has transformed our understanding of the limits of
viral complexity, but the extent of their encoded metabolic diversity remains unclear. Here …

Here we report the discovery of two Tupanvirus strains, the longest tailed Mimiviridae
members isolated in amoebae. Their genomes are 1.44–1.51 Mb linear double-strand DNA …

The largest known DNA viruses infect Acanthamoeba and belong to two markedly different
families. The Megaviridae exhibit pseudo-icosahedral virions up to 0.7 μm in diameter and …

Large DNA viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota have recently emerged as important
members of ecosystems around the globe that challenge traditional views of viral …

Acanthamoeba species are infected by the largest known DNA viruses. These include
icosahedral Mimiviruses, amphora-shaped Pandoraviruses, and Pithovirus sibericum, the …

Ten years ago, the discovery of Mimivirus, a virus infecting Acanthamoeba, initiated a
reappraisal of the upper limits of the viral world, both in terms of particle size (> 0.7 …

The origin of viruses remains mysterious because of their diverse and patchy molecular and
functional makeup. Although numerous hypotheses have attempted to explain viral origins …