Another popular theory states that viruses evolved from degenerated bacteria or archaea that lost most of the genetic instructions for carrying out metabolism and forming cells. There are many ...

Ten years ago, nobody knew that Asgard archaea even existed. In 2015, however, researchers examining deep-sea sediments discovered gene fragments that indicated a new and previously undiscovered form ...

Viruses, then, may have existed before bacteria, archaea, or eukaryotes (Figure 4; Prangishvili et al. 2006). Most biologists now agree that the very first replicating molecules consisted of RNA ...

Viruses can replicate only inside a host’s cell. Hosts of viruses include animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, and archaea. Many viruses have evolved to infect multiple kinds of hosts, while some ...

The genomes of giant viruses, such as the recently discovered Mimivirus that infects amoebae, are larger than the genomes of many bacteria and some archaea (Raoult & Forterre 2008). Viruses ...

Ten years ago, nobody knew that Asgard archaea even existed. In 2015, however, researchers examining deep-sea sediments discovered gene fragments that indicated a new and previously undiscovered ...

The majority of these viruses infect microbes, including bacteria, archaea, and microeukaryotes, all of which are vital players in the global fixation and cycling of key elements such as carbon, ...

Current hypotheses suggest that all life on Earth evolved from a common ancestor that diversified into the variety of organisms seen today. Scientists propose that the eukaryotic branch of this family ...

Vaginal microbes play a huge role in overall health, but researchers know relatively little about them. Citizen science could help change that.

The human microbiome comprises bacteria, archaea, viruses, and eukaryotes which reside within and outside our bodies. These organisms impact human physiology, both in health and in disease ...