• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

First Giant Virus To Be Found In Finland Is A Whopper, Twice The Size Of Influenza

April 26, 2025 by Deborah Bloomfield

Researchers have discovered the first giant virus in Finland. The specimen demonstrates that such huge viruses are more common in northern regions than previously thought.

Viruses are tiny. Even compared to the smallest bacteria, which can be about 200 nanometers (a nanometer being one-billionth of a meter) in diameter, viruses are still teeny tiny, with the smallest typically measuring around 20 nanometers. However, there are some viruses that are truly massive in comparison to their diminutive relatives and can actually be as large as bacteria. These viruses infect amoebas – unicellular organisms – and other microorganisms.

In a new study, researchers at the University of Jyväskylä identified a new virus they discovered when environmental samples were mixed with a culture of amoeba called Acanthamoeba castellanii. This particular giant virus, which they called Jyvaskylavirus, is 200 nanometers in diameter, or about two times the size of an influenza or coronavirus.

“Through an international collaboration, we elucidated the genome and structure of the Jyvaskylavirus, which was found to be related to Marseilleviruses previously isolated from France. Other new giant viruses were also detected in environmental samples,” professor Lotta-Riina Sundberg from the University of Jyväskylä explained in a statement.

The research demonstrates that giant viruses are actually more prevalent in soil and water than previously thought, even in northern environments such as those in Finland.

The first giant virus to be identified, called Mimivirus (short for microbe mimicking virus), was discovered in 2003 inside an amoeba found in a cooling tower in Bradford, England. At first, this virus was mistaken for a bacterium because it could be seen under a light microscope, which is impossible for other regular-sized viruses.

Since then, several more giant viruses have been discovered, most of which have been found in Europe or South America. Some specimens have even been found in extreme environments such as the Siberian permafrost, discovered due to rising temperatures. These so-called “zombie viruses” are benign, preferring to infect amoebae rather than humans – but this may not be the case forever. Researchers have warned that climate change could mean more harmful viruses are released and awakened as the ice melts.

Giant viruses are also different from regular viruses because of the sheer number of genes they have. For instance, Pandoravirus, which was discovered in 2013, has around 2,500 genes, while a simple flu virus has around 8.

They really are fascinating things, but because they are such a recent discovery, there is still much we do not know about the life cycles or distribution of giant viruses.

“The discovery [of Jyvaskylavirus] will help to understand the interactions between microbes and the role of viruses in regulating populations of all living organisms, as well as providing new insights into the structure of giant viruses”, Sundberg added.

The study is published in eLife.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Russia moves Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets to Belarus to patrol borders, Minsk says
  2. French senators to visit Taiwan amid soaring China tensions
  3. Money Can Buy Happiness, And There’s No Upper Limit On How Much
  4. Elusive Striped Frog Species Spotted In Chile For First Time In 130 Years

Source Link: First Giant Virus To Be Found In Finland Is A Whopper, Twice The Size Of Influenza

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • The Bizarre 1997 Experiment That Made A Frog Levitate
  • There’s A Very Good Reason Why October 1582 On Your Phone Is Missing 10 Days
  • Skynet-1A: Military Spacecraft Launched 56 Years Ago Has Been Moved By Persons Unknown
  • There’s A Simple Solution To Helping Avoid Erectile Dysfunction (But You’re Not Going To Like It)
  • Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS May Be 10 Billion Years Old, This Rare Spider Is Half-Female, Half-Male Split Down The Middle, And Much More This Week
  • Why Do Trains Not Have Seatbelts? It’s Probably Not What You Think
  • World’s Driest Hot Desert Just Burst Into A Rare And Fleeting Desert Bloom
  • Theoretical Dark Matter Infernos Could Melt The Earth’s Core, Turning It Liquid
  • North America’s Largest Mammal Once Numbered 60 Million – Then Humans Nearly Drove It To Extinction
  • North America’s Largest Ever Land Animal Was A 21-Meter-Long Titan
  • A Two-Headed Fossil, 50/50 Spider, And World-First Butt Drag
  • Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Is Losing Buckets Of Water Every Second – And It’s Got Cyanide
  • “A Historic Shift”: Renewables Generated More Power Than Coal Globally For First Time
  • The World’s Oldest Known Snake In Captivity Became A Mom At 62 – No Dad Required
  • Biggest Ocean Current On Earth Is Set To Shift, Spelling Huge Changes For Ecosystems
  • Why Are The Continents All Bunched Up On One Side Of The Planet?
  • Why Can’t We Reach Absolute Zero?
  • “We Were Onto Something”: Highest Resolution Radio Arc Shows The Lowest Mass Dark Object Yet
  • How Headsets Made For Cyclists Are Giving Hearing And Hope To Kids With Glue Ear
  • It Was Thought Only One Mammal On Earth Had Iridescent Fur – Turns Out There’s More
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version