The authors of the study analysed the genomes of these bacteriophages
Researchers in the US have made a shocking discovery as they saw viruses latching onto each other. Two 'Bacteriophage' viruses have used each other to help replicate. "No one has ever seen a bacteriophage - or any other virus - attach to another virus," lead study author Tagide deCarvalho said in a statement. The study suggests there may be many more cases of this kind of relationship waiting to be discovered.
The study was published in the journal of the International Society of Microbial Ecology on October 31. The study explains when a satellite virus infiltrates a cell, it tries to rely on helper viruses in order to replicate their DNA. Live Science report says that the satellite and helper sometimes need to infect the same cell simultaneously, so they need to be close to each other during the process. However, the new research says that satellites actually attach themselves to a helper. It attaches itself to a virus "neck".
The researchers made this discovery by looking at environmental samples containing a family of bacteriophage satellites that infect Streptomyces bacteria.
The authors of the study analysed the genomes of these bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts. They soon discovered that the satellites had genes that coded for their outer protein shell but not the key genes needed to replicate within bacterial cells.
Explaining why would the satellite grab the helper's neck, it says that some satellites lack a gene needed for them to integrate into the genome of bacterial host cells after entering them.
"These findings demonstrate an ever-increasing array of satellite strategies for genetic dependence on their helpers in the evolutionary arms race between satellite and helper phages," the authors wrote in the study.
"It's possible that a lot of the bacteriophages that people thought were contaminated were actually these satellite-helper systems," deCarvalho said in the statement. "So now, with this paper, people might be able to recognize more of these systems."