(FOLLOWING JOINT PRESS RELEASE WAS ISSUED BY KYOTO UNIVERSITY.)

[PRESS RELEASE]

Source: Kyoto University and Tokyo Institute of Technology
25 March 2019

The newly discovered Medusavirus give new insights on how organisms and viruses co-evolved

A research team consisting of scientists from Kyoto University, Tokyo University of Science, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, and Tokyo Institute of Technology, report in the Journal of Virology the Medusavirus, a unique giant virus that gives pause to current theory on viral evolution.

Read more: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-03/ku-apv032519.php

This virus was found infecting amoebas in the hot springs of northern Japan. The amoeba forms cysts, and produces a hard protective covering, giving it the name: medusavirus
Image Credit: KYOTO UNIVERSITY/ROBIN HOSHINO