Can viruses conceal within the DNA of unicellular organisms?

Scientists on the College of Innsbruck have found over 30,000 viruses by utilizing the high-performance laptop cluster ‘Leo’ and complex detective work ( Proceedings of the Nationwide Academy of Sciences).

The viruses conceal within the DNA of unicellular organisms. In some instances, as much as 10% of microbial DNA consists of built-in viruses. Constructed into the genome of the microbes, they discovered the DNA of over 30,000 beforehand unknown viruses, says a launch. This hidden DNA could enable the replication of full and purposeful viruses within the host cell. These viruses don’t seem to hurt their hosts. Quite the opposite, some could even defend them. Many look like much like so-called virophages. These viruses infect and destroy different dangerous viruses that infect their host cell.

The DNA of the newly found viruses is much like virophage DNA. Due to this fact, it’s possible that the host microbes defend themselves from large viruses via these built-in viruses.