GIANT NEW VIRUS MAY BE EXTRATERRESTRIAL - MAYBE FROM MARS

This out-of-this-world giant virus is ten times the size of other viruses, and only 6% of its genes resemble those found on Earth.

 

The Pandoravirus is only found underwater and is not a threat to humans....yet.

 

Dr. Jean-Michel Claverie of Aix-Marseille University in France, who discovered the virus, told NPR that it may have emerged from an ancestral cellular type that no longer exists.

 

Pandoravirus is so big that it was thought to be a bacterium at first.  It has been spotted off the coast of Chile and in an Australian pond.

Read more and see pictures here -  
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2370100/Scientists-GIANT-Pandoravirus-come-alien-planet.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130718-viruses-pandoraviruses-science-biology-evolution/

http://io9.com/newly-discovered-pandoravirus-could-redefine-life-as-827838228

NPR feature - http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/07/18/203298244/worlds-biggest-virus-may-have-ancient-roots

Related:

What are viruses? - http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/alllife/virus.html
Viruses and Bacteria -  http://archives.microbeworld.org/microbes/virus_bacterium.aspx
More on microbes on this blog - http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/search/label/Microbes

Link to this post - http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/07/giant-new-virus-may-be-extraterrestrial.html