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Sukunaarchaeum: the microbe that behaves like a virus

Read about a new microbe called Sukunaarchaeum. It’s not a virus, but it behaves almost exactly like one. It lives inside another tiny organism and does basically nothing but copy itself. No metabolism, no help to its host - a pure parasite.

It can still replicate its own DNA, unlike most viruses. It has only 189 protein-coding genes (e.g. E. coli has ~4,000). Scientists think it might be an "evolutionary in-between" - showing us how viruses might have evolved.

It was found by accident, but now they’ve seen its relatives all over the world’s oceans.

Source: science.org/content/articl…

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Sukunaarchaeum: the microbe that behaves like a virus

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