<p>Being big, like an elephant or a rhinoceros, has a significant advantage — no predator would dare tackle such a large animal! However, some viruses, like the one that infects the single-celled amoeba, are big for a different reason — to sneak into its host, the amoeba.</p>.<p>In a new study, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay have found a relationship between the number of copies of a particular set of genes and the size of the amoeba viruses that help these viruses gain easy entry into their host. </p>.<p>In this study, published in the journal Virus Evolution, researchers elucidate how the amoeba virus increases its size by using a set of essential genes called RDCPs (repeat domain-containing proteins) to expand its genome length and to infect the host once inside the amoeba cell.</p>
<p>Being big, like an elephant or a rhinoceros, has a significant advantage — no predator would dare tackle such a large animal! However, some viruses, like the one that infects the single-celled amoeba, are big for a different reason — to sneak into its host, the amoeba.</p>.<p>In a new study, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay have found a relationship between the number of copies of a particular set of genes and the size of the amoeba viruses that help these viruses gain easy entry into their host. </p>.<p>In this study, published in the journal Virus Evolution, researchers elucidate how the amoeba virus increases its size by using a set of essential genes called RDCPs (repeat domain-containing proteins) to expand its genome length and to infect the host once inside the amoeba cell.</p>