'Vampire Viruses' found for the first time in US
Image Credit: pixabay
In a scientific first, strange 'vampire viruses' have cropped up in soil samples in US’s Maryland and Missouri. Though the existence of “vampire viruses” has been known to the researchers for decades, this is the first instance of it cropping up in soil samples. Researchers at the University of Maryland Baltimore County uncovered clear signs of virus-like entities known as mobile genetic elements (MGEs) latching onto helper viruses as they infected a population of bacterial cells.