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The Soil’s New Universe: Giant Viruses

By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

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Credit: Brian Boucheron,

What’s in soil? Water, air, sand, silt, clay, and organic matter. What’s in organic matter? Humus, earthworms, insects, bacteria and, we just learned, . As their name implies, these viruses are big—their dimensions and genome sizes are comparable to those of bacteria. Continue reading