For a long time giant viruses had been mistaken for bacteria due to their enormous size. A flu virus may have ten or so genes while a giant virus may have 1,000 genes. The largest virus on Earth, Megavirus chilensis, has recently been discovered in the sea off Chile with 1,120 genes. It is 10 to 20 times wider than the average virus. Its genome is 1.259 million base pairs long, 6.5% longer than the previous record holder, Mimivirus, which was found in a water cooling tower in the UK in 1992. Megavirus has 258 genes not found in Mimivirus. So did Megavirus pick up these extra genes from other sources or did Mimivirus lose some genes? The hunt is now on to find more giant viruses to compare.
Posted by Astrojenny
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2 comments:
Bet it's not as big as man flu virus !
NOTHING is as bad as Man Flu! ;)
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