Here we describe a new kind of virus-host interaction involving tupanvirus. We observed that tupanvirus-infected amoebas were induced to aggregate with uninfected cells, promoting viral dissemination and forming giant host cell bunches. Even after mechanical breakdown of bunches, amoebas reaggregated...
The genus "Tupanvirus" is a new proposed taxon to be included in the family Mimiviridae. The two known tupanvirus isolates were isolated from soda lake and oceanic sediments samples collected in Brazil and were named "tupanvirus soda lake" and "tupanvirus deep ocean", respectively. These ...