Their evidence was found in nearly 35,000 water samples from around the world.
An international team of oceanologists, chemists and microbiologists has found an entirely new group of viruses, called myrusviruses, that live throughout the world‘s sunlit oceans infecting plankton. Researchers found evidence of these viruses in nearly 35,000 water samples from around the worldcollected between 2009 and 2013, during the Tara Ocean expedition.
These double-stranded DNA viruses are a vital part of plankton that help regulate the flow of carbon and other nutrients in the oceans. Their phylogenetic analysis revealed that they belonged to the Duplodnaviria family, meaning they are related to the viruses that cause herpes in humans. Interestingly, they also found a close relationship with giant viruses belonging to the Varidnaviria group., which infect eukaryotic cells. These genetic characteristics point to a chimeric origin of this new viral family.
The prevalence, functional activity, diversification, and atypical chimeric attributes of myrusviruses indicate an enduring role for Mirusviricota in the ecology of marine ecosystems and in the evolution of eukaryotic DNA viruses.
The researchers also suggest that the discovery not only adds to knowledge about biodiversity in the world‘s oceans and how plankton function, but may also help to better understand the roots of the virus behind herpes infections, they published Wednesday. , in the journal Nature.