Many viruses measure just tens of nanometers (nm) in size, but that’s not always the case. In some rare instances , so-called “giant viruses” can grow to as much as 1,000 times larger than their relatives. But despite the terrifying name, giant viruses aren’t necessarily any more dangerous than a standard-sized species. And in Finland, researchers recently discovered the nation’s first known example. Meet Jyvaskylavirus, a 200 nm diameter giant that’s roughly two times bigger than influenza or coronavirus.
Jyvaskylavirus is detailed in a study recently published in eLife, and named for Jyväskylä, the Finnish city where it was discovered.According to researchers, the new species was discovered after mixing environmental samples with a culture of amoeba called Acanthamoeba castellanii.
“We elucidated the genome and structure of the Jyvaskylavirus, which was found to be related to Marseilleviruses previously isolated from France,” Lotta-Riina Sundberg, study co-author and University of Jyväskylä professor Lotta-Riina Sundberg, said in a statement on April 16.
What makes Jyvaskylavirus particularly interesting to researchers is where it was found. So far, the majority of most known giant viruses so far have only been identified in Europe and South America. Finding a strain so far north leads the study’s authors to theorize that giant viruses may be more widespread in soil and water than previously believed.
Giant virus life cycles and spread are still not very well understood. That said, certain Arctic species have been shown to infect specific kinds of algae that are currently exacerbating the melting of Earth’s polar ice caps. Because of their size, giant viruses also have exponentially larger genomes than their standard-sized counterparts—as many as 2.5 million base DNA pairs compared to the usual 7,000–20,000. While large, Jyvaskylavirus is still dwarfed by the biggest known example, Pandoravirus salinas (500 nm)
Researchers hope further study of examples like Jyvaskylavirus will lead to a better understanding of the unique microscopic organisms. But while Jyvaskylavirus is Finland’s first catalogued giant virus, Sundberg made clear it certainly isn’t the last.
“Other new giant viruses were also detected in [our] environmental samples,” they teased.
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