#virophages

It turns out that there are giant viruses that blur the line between life and death – and other viruses hunting them.

n a single drop of water from Lake Ontario, you can find an abundance of algae. In these algae, scientists in 2015 found a new virus belonging to an enigmatic group called giant viruses. And nested inside these giant viruses, scientists have now found yet more novel viruses—three tiny ones that they have named CpV-PLV Larry, Curly, and Moe. “I originally named them to see if I can get away with it,” says Joshua Stough, now a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan. He’s a co-author of a new paper describing and naming the Three Stooges, so, in fact, he has gotten away with it. All three of these viruses are what are known as virophages, viruses that specialize in infecting other viruses. Virophages were first discovered infecting giant viruses from a water-cooling tower in 2008. Since then, scientists have isolated only a handful more—all from giant viruses that infect microscopic organisms such as algae or amoebas. It’s a virus inside a virus inside a cell. “They’re like the Russian doll,” says Curtis Suttle, a virologist at the University of British Columbia who was not involved with the new study.