Dangerous Medusa Virus Turns Victims Into Stone But It Can Also Explain Why Life Exists

Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – The Medusa virus is dangerous because of its ability to turn its victims into stone, but scientists say it can also explain why life exists on our planet.

Researchers think the Medusa virus holds clues to the evolution of more complex life.

Similar to the mythical Greek monster Medusa, the virus can turn amoeba to a stone-like cyst. Isolated from a hot spring in Japan and eponymously dubbed Medusa virus, this virus infects a species of amoeba known as Acanthamoeba castellanii and causes it to develop a hard, stony shell.

Japanese scientists have discovered that discovered that DNA replication occurred in the nucleus of the host amoeba and observed evidence of exchange of genetic information between the host and the virus as they coevolved.

They also found that the giant virus harbors in its ancient genome some of the complex proteins that make up the building blocks of eukaryotic organisms such as animals, plants, and humans.

Understanding the presence of these proteins in the virus’ genome may help scientists tackle some of the hardest questions about our origins. In fact, “genomics research of the giant virus indicates that there is likely a relationship between the Medusa virus and the origin of eukaryotic life,” says Professor Takemura from Tokyo University of Science in a press statement.

A virus does not have the necessary “machinery” to replicate. It does this inside its host cell, by releasing its genome and “hijacking” the cell’s machinery. When a virus invades an organism, it uses some of the host genes in order to replicate itself. This can leave a mark, like a fingerprint, on the host’s DNA, which is then passed on for generations.

The host also interacts with the virus, and the virus adopts new sequences that are preserved through time. The host and virus coevolve, and it is this “coevolution” that is at the forefront of this insightful study.

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Viruses are classified based on their genetic characteristics, that is, by how they generate mRNA to produce proteins and genetic material. The Medusa virus is a nucleocytoplasmic large DNA virus, which belongs to a group of recently discovered eukaryotic viruses with large and complex double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genomes.

It is interesting because, unlike most viruses, it contains genes that encode for proteins involved in DNA packaging. The Medusa virus has a full set of histones, which are proteins that have evolved to keep the DNA folded inside the nucleus and regulate gene expression. This is particularly strange when you consider that viruses have no nucleus; this could mean that during the coevolution, the virus might have acquired the genes that encode these histones. With these findings, this study also makes a claim that the Medusa virus is a completely different family of viruses.

The study shows our DNA polymerase “probably originated from Medusa virus or one of its relatives.

However, there is no need to worry because the medusa virus won’t be turning us into stone anytime soon.

Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff Writer