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Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (artist\u2019s impression) is a giant among viruses, both in physical size and because of the size of its genome. Credit: Nanoclustering\/Science Photo Library<\/p>\n
Scientists report that a type of giant virus<\/a> multiplies furiously by hijacking its host\u2019s protein-making machinery<\/a>1<\/a> \u2014 long-sought experimental evidence that viruses can co-opt a system typically associated with cellular life.<\/p>\n The researchers found that the virus makes a complex of three proteins that takes over its host\u2019s protein-production system, which then churns out viral proteins instead of the host\u2019s own.<\/p>\n Virologists had already suspected that viruses could perform such a feat, says Frederik Schulz, a computational biologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, who was not involved with the work. But the new findings, published in Cell on 17 February, are an important confirmation. Compared with other viruses, he says, this one \u201chas a more powerful toolbox to really replace what the host is doing\u201d.<\/p>\n Big microbe<\/p>\n Giant viruses, which are so named for their massive genomes, might seem exotic, but they are decidedly commonplace. They tend to infect single-celled organisms called protists<\/a> \u2014 a group that includes amoebae and protozoa \u2014 that \u201care all over the place\u201d, says Eugene Koonin, an evolutionary biologist at the US National Center for Biotechnology Information in Bethesda, Maryland.<\/p>\n Scientists glimpse oddball microbe that could help explain rise of complex life<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/d41586-026-00532-w_17564864.jpg\"\/)
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