Published: June 12 , 2025
A team of scientists at the University of Miami has made a remarkable discovery: 230 new giant viruses found in the world’s oceans. These large viruses, which infect tiny marine organisms like algae, amoeba and other single-celled life forms, could play a major role in the health of our oceans — and even in public health.
The research, published in Nature npj Viruses, sheds new light on how giant viruses affect marine ecosystems and how they might be used to better monitor ocean health.
Why Giant Viruses Matter
Giant viruses are not your average viruses. They’re much bigger and more complex, often infecting protists — microscopic organisms such as algae and amoeba — that form the base of the ocean’s food chain. When these protists are infected, it can affect everything from marine food webs to harmful algal blooms, which can be toxic to both marine life and people.
“These viruses are often responsible for killing large numbers of phytoplankton, which are essential to ocean ecosystems,” explained Dr. Mohammad Moniruzzaman, assistant professor in the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology and co-author of the study. “Understanding these viruses gives us a better chance at predicting events like algal blooms, which can threaten both environmental and human health.”
How the Discovery Was Made
The team used a newly created bioinformatics tool called BEREN (Bioinformatic tool for Eukaryotic virus Recovery from Environmental metageNomesto) find these hidden viral genomes. BEREN is specially designed to scan through massive public DNA datasets collected from ocean water samples. It helped the researchers identify and analyze the giant viruses that had gone unnoticed until now.
The scientists also used the University of Miami’s Pegasus supercomputer to process all this data — a task that would take years on a regular computer.
What they found was impressive: 230 completely new giant viruses, along with 530 never-before-seen proteins. Some of these proteins are linked to important biological functions like photosynthesis — suggesting that these viruses may be capable of changing how their host cells process sunlight and energy during infection.
A Closer Look at the Viral Toolkit
What surprised the researchers most was that some of these viruses contain genes typically only found in living cells. This includes genes involved in carbon processing and energy production. That means these viruses aren’t just passive attackers — they may actively manipulate their hosts in complex ways.
“These are not simple viruses. They seem to have evolved ways to reprogram the cells they infect, even controlling important processes like photosynthesis,” said Benjamin Minch, the study’s lead author and a PhD student in marine biology.
Beyond Discovery: Future Impact
Aside from their ecological role, these newly discovered viruses could have biotech potential. Some of the proteins found may work as novel enzymes — molecules that can be useful in industries ranging from medicine to biofuels.
Another exciting outcome of this research is that BEREN is now available to the public. Anyone with access to environmental DNA data can use it to find and study giant viruses in oceans, lakes, or rivers around the world.
What This Means
This study offers a major leap forward in how scientists understand the invisible but powerful world of marine viruses. By discovering these new players, researchers can begin to build better models to predict changes in marine ecosystems and identify new tools for biotechnology.This study is plays important role in the future of marine biotech.
“Giant viruses have been hiding in plain sight,” Minch said. “Now we have the tools to find them, study them, and understand their function and how they shape the world’s marine life.”
The complete BEREN pipeline and associated documentation are publicly accessible at https://gitlab.com/benminch1/BEREN, promoting transparency and reproducibility in environmental genomics research.