Scientists have unearthed a Stranger Things-inspired “vampire” virus that challenges contemporary viral knowledge.
The confounding disease is called MiniFlayer and can attach itself to other viruses. The discovery was made by Professor Tagide deCarvalho at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore Country in the US.
The research was published in the Journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology, but its origins were a little more humble. The bizarre find started life as a class project led by deCarvalho with undergraduate students.
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She manages the Keith R. Porter Imaging Facility and with the help of his students, Jenell Lewis and Hira Ahmed, isolated the virus from the soil in Poolesville, Maryland, in 2019. Professor deCarvalho found two bacteriophages during her analysis, one MiniFlayer and the other MindFlayer, both viruses that infect and then replicate inside bacteria.
The MiniFlayer, however, showed something unusual. It had developed a unique method different to satellite viruses' usual approach of lying in wait for a helper virus.
According to Newsweek, Ivan Erill, a computational biologist at UMBC and deCarvalho's colleague, said: "MiniFlayer addressed this challenge with evolutionary aplomb and horror-movie creativity. Instead of lying in wait, MiniFlayer has gone on the offensive. This satellite phage evolved a short appendage that allows it to latch onto its helper's neck like a vampire". This helps it enter a cell and multiply – information that will help our understanding of viruses.
It also shows the MiniFlayer and MindFlayer in an evolutionary battle: "Satellites evolve new ways to exploit helpers and helpers develop countermeasures to block them," Erill said.
Professor deCarvalho said: "We know that viruses can do some amazing, interesting things. But this is just another new thing that no one could have predicted we would see”.
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