2023-11-18 07:00:00
Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery about the behavior of certain viruses, revealing an unprecedented phenomenon. For the first time, researchers have observed a virus attaching itself to another virus in order to multiply, in what has been described as a “vampire” behavior.
This viral relationship, in which one virus (the satellite) relies on a second virus (the helper) to complete its life cycle, has been known for some time. However, the spectacle of a satellite virus physically attaching itself to its host has never been witnessed before.
The remarkable behavior was observed in a type of virus known as the bacteriophage, which infects bacteria. In this case, the satellite virus was seen constantly attached to the neck of the bacteriophage, where the main body of the virus joins the tail, forming a physical bond with its helper virus.
Lead author of the study, Tagide deCarvalho, expressed astonishment at the discovery, stating, “No one has ever seen a bacteriophage – or any other virus – attached to another virus.”
The discovery of these “vampire” viruses, as they have been called, was a random occurrence in a student’s bacteriophage sample sent to the University of Pittsburgh sequencing lab. The sample contained not only the expected genetic sequence of the bacteriophage, but also something smaller that didn’t match what the researchers knew. It wasn’t until the team turned to deCarvalho and a transmission electron microscope that they realized what was going on.
Further analysis revealed that the satellite virus discovered in the research lacks a special gene that allows it to integrate into the DNA of the host cells it invades. Therefore, it must be in close proximity to its helper virus when entering the cell in order to survive.
The researchers also found that the satellite viruses have been evolving together with their helper viruses for almost 100 million years, suggesting that there may be many more such cases yet to be discovered.
The team hopes to investigate this phenomenon further in future research, including exploring in detail how satellite viruses connect with their helpers.
The study, which details these findings, was published in the Journal of Microbial Ecology. This groundbreaking discovery has implications for our understanding of viral behavior and evolution, paving the way for further research in virology.]
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