{"id":3094,"date":"2020-01-29T11:56:19","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T11:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=3094"},"modified":"2020-01-30T08:04:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T08:04:00","slug":"how-giant-viruses-infect-amoebae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/how-giant-viruses-infect-amoebae\/3094\/","title":{"rendered":"How giant viruses infect amoebae"},"content":{"rendered":"
A team of researchers at Tokyo University of Science<\/a>, Japan, have created a new method of revealing how giant viruses infect amoebae and how they react to infection.<\/p>\n Once a giant virus has infected an amoeba it behaves in a unique manner. In order to gain deeper insight into the infection mechanism of giant viruses,<\/a> scientists at Tokyo University of Science developed a specialised algorithm that can track the movement of host cells. This method could also be used to study any other type of cells, such as cancer cells, neurons, and immune cells, serving as an efficient tool in the field of cell biology.<\/p>\n Viruses are probably the most peculiar \u201clife forms\u201d known to us, with each species having unique characteristics. One thing common to all viruses is that they attack a \u201chost\u201d cell and hijack its machinery, using it for its own replication. A type of large virus, called \u201cgiant virus,\u201d has interesting ways of attacking its host organism\u2014an amoeba.<\/p>\n Virologists have been trying to understand what makes these viruses so unique for some time now, but to observe them, complex techniques are required. A method called phase-contrast microscopy is commonly used to study all types of cells, including amoeba cells. This technique relies heavily on the variation in the conditions of the cell and its background, and sometimes this leads to disruptions in the image produced\u2014for example \u201chalo\u201d (in which the cell is surrounded by a bright light) and \u201cshade-off\u201d (in which the inside of the cell and background are of a similar intensity).<\/p>\n Just earlier this month, scientists from the Tokyo University of Science, led by Professor Masaharu Takemura, had reported the discovery of two new species of pandoravirus and mimivirus<\/a>\u2014both families of giant viruses infecting amoebae\u2014from a riverbank in Japan. Professor Takemura says that continual discovery of viruses from soil is crucial from the standpoint of understanding the ecology of giant viruses.<\/p>\n