these viruses “represent a form of life that either predated or coexisted with the most recent organism from which all other organisms on Earth are descended. If giant viruses are as old as Caetano-Anolles’ calculated, the implications are staggering. It means that a giant virus or one of its ancestors existed before other types of life and may have played a major role in shaping life as we know it. This could mean that viruses are one of the dominant evolutionary forces on this planet and that each organism has a deep, viral past.

2021-09-01: See also Giruses, giant viruses, which may have been there since the beginning.

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