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A type of virus that dominates water samples taken from the world's oceans has long escaped analysis because it has characteristics that standard tests cannot detect. However, researchers have now managed to isolate and study representatives of these elusive viruses, which provide a key missing link in virus evolution and play an important role in regulating bacterial populations.
Viruses are the main predators of bacteria, and the findings suggest that the current view of bacterial virus diversity has a major blind spot. The newly identified viruses lack the "tail" found on most catalogued and sequenced bacterial viruses, and have several other unusual properties that have led to their being missed by previous studies. To honor that fact, the researchers named this new group the Autolykiviridae -- after a character from Greek mythology who was storied for being difficult to catch. And, unlike typical viruses that prey on just one or two types of bacteria, these tailless varieties can infect dozens of different types, often of different species, underscoring their ecological relevance.Image credit: MIT