Clue to evolution of the first viruses

Abstract

An odd Antarctic microbe might hold the answer to one of the biggest mysteries in evolution which is the origin of viruses. The microorganism is host to a fragment of DNA that can build a capsule around itself. It may help explain how viruses first arose. Ricardo Cavicchioli of the University of New South Wales in Australia and his colleagues have found a microorganism in the lakes of the Rauer Islands off the coast of Antarctica that might shed some light on the question. The organism, Halorubrum lacusprofundi R1S1, is an archaean:a single-celled organism a bit like a bacterium.