Clue to evolution of the first viruses

• Autores: Michael Marshall
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3140, 2017, pág. 14
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • An odd Antarctic microbe might hold the answer to one of the biggest mysteries in evolution which is the origin of viruses. The microorganism is host to a fragment of DNA that can build a capsule around itself. It may help explain how viruses first arose. Ricardo Cavicchioli of the University of New South Wales in Australia and his colleagues have found a microorganism in the lakes of the Rauer Islands off the coast of Antarctica that might shed some light on the question. The organism, Halorubrum lacusprofundi R1S1, is an archaean:a single-celled organism a bit like a bacterium.