Some viruses become so large that other viruses can infect them, tiny super-specialized parasites piggy-backing their genetic code on their huge cousins.Others simply fail, their patchwork genomes not up to the challenges of the environment. The Marseillevirus, the fifth largest virus ever found, has stolen ten percent of its chromosomes from bacteria it once infected, and another five percent from the amoebic host of the party. It's even infiltrated other giant viruses, taking parts of the mimivirus for its own purposes. An interesting report here.
It is a microbial rope-trick! According to this report, researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) have discovered that several species of microbes, at least one found prominently in the deserts of the American Southwest, have evolved the trait of rope-building to lasso shifting soil substrates.
Another report citing a National Geographic News item says that scientists have determined that colorful cave deposits found on the walls of lava tubes, long thought to be ordinary minerals, are actually mats of waste excreted by previously unknown types of microbes, a discovery that offer clues in the search for life on Mars and beyond.
Another report cites a new research that scientists have found that ant farmers, like their human counterparts, depend on nitrogen-fixing bacteria to make their gardens grow. They swim, they dance, they waltz, they strut, swagger and sashay! Bacteria dance the electric slide, officially named electrokinesis, in a new study by USC geobiologists.
