In a big scientific discovery, a group of researchers led by Benjamin Minch and Mohammad Moniruzzaman from the University of Miami found hundreds of new giant viruses in the world’s oceans. Using smart computer tools, they studied ocean water samples and looked closely at the DNA of tiny life forms. That’s how they came across 230 giant viruses that no one had ever seen before.
This is an important step forward in science. These viruses help us better understand how the ocean works, especially how viruses affect small sea creatures called protists. These include algae, amoebas, and other tiny life forms that play a major role in the ocean food chain and help keep the water healthy.
The team shared their results in a study titled “Expansion of the Genomic and Functional Diversity of Global Ocean Giant Viruses”, published on April 21, 2025, in the journal Nature npj Viruses. In the study, they also found 530 new proteins—some of which are connected to photosynthesis, the process plants and algae use to make food using sunlight. This shows that these viruses may be able to change how their host organisms work.
“We are learning that these viruses do more than just infect—they can control the way algae and other sea microbes behave,” said Dr. Mohammad Moniruzzaman, one of the study authors. “If we understand this better, we might be able to predict or even stop dangerous algal blooms, which are a health threat in Florida and around the world.”
These giant viruses are known to kill phytoplankton, which are tiny plants in the ocean. These plants are the base of the food web, meaning many other sea creatures rely on them for survival. Because of this, giant viruses play a much bigger role than we thought in ocean life.
Some of the newly found virus proteins may also have uses in science and technology. “Some of these proteins might turn out to be helpful tools in biotechnology,” added Moniruzzaman.
Until now, it was hard to find these viruses because current software wasn’t strong enough. To fix that, the team built a new computer tool named BEREN. It’s made to search for virus DNA in large data sets from the ocean and find viruses that were missed before.
“We were surprised to see that these giant viruses have genes linked to important cell functions like photosynthesis and carbon processing—things we thought only living cells could do,” said Benjamin Minch, the lead author of the study and a PhD student at the University of Miami.
This means these viruses can actually change how their host organisms work and even affect how carbon moves through the ocean—a key part of the Earth’s climate system.
The research team used the Pegasus supercomputer at the University of Miami to go through huge amounts of ocean data—sometimes more than a billion pieces of genetic code per sample. This allowed them to put together hundreds of complete viral genomes and map out entire communities of microbes.
“This study helped us build better tools to find new viruses,” said Minch. “In the future, this could help us monitor water pollution and disease risks in oceans and rivers.”