Many viruses only measure dozens of nanometers (NM), but this is not always the case. In some rare, supposedly “cases”giant virus”CAN Grow to AS MUCH AS 1,000 Times Larger Than Their Relative. But not the terrifying name, Giant Viruses Aren’tilily Any More Dangerous Than a Standard-Sized Species. And in Finland, Researchers Recently Discovered the Nation’s First Known Example. Meet Jyvaskylavirus, a 200 nm Diameter Giant That’s Roughly Two Times Bigger Than flu Or Corona Virus.
Jyvaskylavirus is detailed in a study recently published in ElifeAnd appointed for Jyväskylä, the Finnish city where it was discovered. Acanthamoeba Castellanii.
“We have elucidated the genome and the structure of the Jyvaskylavirus, which was linked to the previously isolated Marseillevirus of France,” said Lotta-Riina Sundberg, co-author of the study and professor of Jyväskylä Lotta-Riina Sundberg, said in a press release April 16.
What makes the jyvaskylavirus particularly interesting for researchers is the place where it was found. So far, the majority of the best known giant viruses have so far been identified in Europe and South America. Finding a strain so far in the north leads the authors of the study to theorize that giant viruses can be more widespread in the soil and water than we thought before.
The giant virus life cycles and propagation are still not very well understood. That said, Some Arctic species It has been shown that to infect specific types of algae which currently exacerbate the fusion of the polar glacial caps of the earth. Due to their size, giant viruses also have exponentially larger genomes than their standard size counterparts – as many basic DNA pairs of 2.5 million compared to the usual 7,000 to 20,000. Although large, the jyvaskylavirus is always overshadowed by the largest known example, Salinas pandoravirus (500 nm)
Researchers hope that a more in -depth study of examples like Jyvaskylavirus will lead to a better understanding of unique microscopic organisms. But while Jyvaskylavirus is the first giant virus cataloged by Finland, Sundberg clearly indicated that it is certainly not the last.
“Other new giant viruses have also been detected in (our) environmental samples,” they teased.
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