A team of researchers published in great detail in the scientific journal Science the discovery of the largest virus in the world. The virus has been named Pandoravirus.
“We believe we have opened Pandora’s box – not so much for humanity, but for the doctrine we had about viruses. We believe we have discovered an alternative life form,” Dr. Jean -Michel Claverie told The Week.
The first virus was first discovered in Las Cruces , Chile. Later, scientists discovered a similar one, this time in Melbourne, Australia.
The first was named Pandoravirus salinus, while the second was named Pandoravirus dulcis.
The virus is said to be twice as large as Megavirus, which until now held the title of the largest virus in the world.
It is about 1,000 times larger than the common flu virus and is visible with an ordinary microscope.
The amazing thing is that it has 2,556 different genes. Only 7% of these genes are similar to those of other organisms, which is why scientists suspect that the origin of Pandoravirus is different from that of most other life forms.
These viruses live underwater, and do not pose a threat to humans.
