Saw the Movie, Leave Them Alone: Scientists Find 'Ancient, Giant Viruses'

Scientists have found the remnants of genomes left by ancient, giant viruses within the DNA of a single-celled organism with which complex organisms like ourselves share a common ancestor.

The discovery suggests viruses may have played a greater role in our evolution than we realized, contributing genes that may have given cells like the ancestor of the symbiotic eukaryote Amoebidium an edge in survival.

This new research comes from a team led by Queen Mary University of London evolutionary biologist Alex de Mendoza Soler.

"It's like finding Trojan horses hiding inside the Amoebidium's DNA," he says. "These viral insertions are potentially harmful, but Amoebidium seems to be keeping them in check by chemically silencing them."