Researchers: Even Viruses Get Viruses

Viruses that cause colds and fevers in humans are found to get bugs as well. According to French researchers, small viruses attack viruses.

Virologists from France watched one type of virus invade another virus, stealing DNA from its host, then making copies of its victim’s DNA to pass it on to the next generation. Eugene Koonin, a virologist at the National Center for Biotechnology Information and co-author of the findings told Nature:

"It's not the first time such a satellite pair was discovered, but this host-parasite pair is unique…It's the first time that these viruses have actually exchanged genes."

It doesn’t solve our current health problems, but it just gives us an idea what happens in the world of viruses. Viruses that invade others are minuscule, containing only 21 genes. French scientists named the virus “Sputnik” after the Russian spacecraft. The Sputnik virus belongs to the “mimivirus” category. Initially, it infected bacteria like other viruses but later researchers found it invaded the “mamavirus.” Once it gets into the “mamavirus” it hijacks the host’s genetic machinery, which Sputnik uses to make copies of the mamavirus’ genes and adds them to its own. When this occurs, the mamavirus gets crippled and is unable to replicate. In other words: It gets sick. Koonin and his team also found Sputnik’s genes appear to come from an unknown viral family, distantly related to previously known viruses. The genes in them were similar to those found in oceanic water samples taken by the J. Craig Venter Institute. University of British Columbia marine virologist, Curtis Suttle, told Nature that Sputnik and related viruses can also pass on genes to others as they steal them. He thinks these viruses could be major players in global systems. But Koonin cautions, there are no tangible evidence at this point to support that theory. Bernard La Scola, a University of the Mediterranean virologist and co-author of the paper, suggested future applications of Sputnik-like viruses could be used to target viruses that infect humans. But Koonin said it will be difficult to do this in humans who have viruses that are too small to have parasites in them. He said that so far, no single human virus with parasites has been found. Human viruses will get a break until scientists find other means to attack them. Koonin and his team found the Sputnik virus in a French cooling tower. To learn more about this virus study, visit Nature's website.