Layman's Science

You’ve heard of the oceans and probably head of amoebas, but have you heard of giant viruses? If not, you are not alone. Giant viruses are a relatively new concept in the science community. It wasn’t until 2003 that the discovery of the mimivirus in amoebas occurred.  The discovery of giant viruses has led to this new debate, have these always existed as the fourth domain of cellular life or is this a product of evolution?

Let’s start with the discovery of the giant virus, the mimivirus. The idea of these being a large virus came out in 2003, however mimivirus was first discovered in 1993. Assumptions at the time presumed all viruses to be smaller than 0.3-μm. Anything larger was typically filtered out or assumed something else. But you know what they say about assuming!

This makes you wonder if giant virus has been under our nose the whole time?

The flip side of the debate argues that these have evolved over time and are paving their way as a new order. Giant viruses share a lot of the same characteristic as what we know of current viruses while also possessing unique aspects only seen in these new forms. So, the idea that these have evolved over time seems easy and safe to comprehend.

Where I believe this side of the debate loses is with the differences that occur between viruses and their giant counterparts and how these have been viewed over the years. For starters, years of potential giant virus could have been discarded as bacteriophage due to the original definition. This coincides with the assumption that we have discovered everything there is to discover, which I which I truly disagree with. Secondly, when you look at the new distinction between the two it is easy to see that they are not one in the same. Giant viruses are now looked at to have at least 500 protein-coding genes while normal virus is around ten. The ability of translation was lost among the previous defined viruses with these giant counterparts still have the ability.

With the discovery of these new giant viruses in amoebas of the ocean has helped launch a new field of discovery. I believe this new discovery could help lead to new antibiotics or the next life saving medicine. These unique viruses have a lot to teach us and I am eagerly curious.