Dinamyte Magazine
ABSTRACT
Both, Jean-Michel Claverie and Chantal Abergel, are the responsible of the Pandoravirus discovery which is the biggest virus yet found, it could even join to the Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota turning into the fourth domain. A discovery like this one is considered a great advance on science as identifying an exotic new type of virus occurs once every 50 years. To measure the size of this new virus is important to mention that It has supersized 2,500 genes as compared with the average 10 genes in most of the viruses. The reason why this virus wasn't mentioned earlier is because most scientists confused it with a bacteria, although it may had been already found about 13 years ago, however scientist did not know exactly what it was.
Each about one micron—a thousandth of a millimeter—in length, the newfound genus Pandoravirus dwarfs other viruses, which range in size from about 50 nanometers up to 100 nanometers. A genus is a taxonomic ranking between species and family.
In addition to being huge, pandoraviruses have supersize DNA: 2,500 genes as compared with 10 genes in many viruses.
Microbiology was similarly upturned about ten years ago when scientists found the genus Mimivirus—the first large virus of its kind at about 0.7 micron.
Following the discovery of Mimivirus and an even larger behemoth called Megavirus chilensis, "we have been thinking deeply into the limits of viruses, and this is why we're open more than other labs to finding exotic things—we push the envelope of what we would consider possible," said study co-author Jean-Michel Claverie, a microbiologist at Aix-Marseille Université in France, who is part of a research team with microbiologist Chantal Abergel
So the pair and their colleagues began hunting for more giant viruses in water sediments, where other big viruses have been found due to the abundance of amoeba prey.
Sure enough, they found two: Pandoravirus salinus, from the mouth of Chile's Tunquen River, and Pandoravirus dulcis from a freshwater pond near Melbourne, Australia—both of which parasitize amoebas.
"Finding such a new type of virus that is so different happens once every 50 years—it's a major discovery," said the team, whose study appears today in the journal Science.