Aug 24, 2023
THERES A VIRUS (Pandoravirus) THATS 1000 NANOMETERS LONG.
That is like. 10 times the size of the larger range of other viruses.
Other viruses average around 10 genes!
Pandoravirus has 2,500.
That’s fucking insane.
There’s another giant virus, Mamavirus with about half as many genes as Pandoravirus. Mamavirus is an amoebaphage (it preys on amoeba to reproduce!) Well Mamavirus has its own phage. The first Virophage (Sputnik) was discovered connected to a Mamavirus. It altered the production of the Mamaviruses within the amoeba to produce the smaller virophage.
Biology is so cool