Radically different viruses share genes

Research published recently in Virology Journal found that radically different viruses share genes and are likely to share ancestry.

Researchers compared genetic material from virophanges, such as Mavirus, Sputnik and OLV to eukaryotic self replicating transposable elements known as Polintons or Mavericks.

Using phylogenomic analysis to compare giant viruses with tiny viruses known as virophanges and to several groups of transposable elements, researchers found that the viruses shared a genealogy.