In a lake in Brazil, researchers have discovered a virus that they find unusual and intriguing.

Yaravirus

• The Yaravirus infects amoeba and has genes that have not been described before, something that could challenge how DNA viruses are classified.
• It has a puzzling origin and phylogeny (evolutionary relationship).
• Because of the Yaravirus’s small size, it was unlike other viruses that infect amoeba and they named it as a tribute to Yara, the “mother of waters” in the mythological stories of the Tupi-Guarani indigenous tribes.
• The virus does not infect human cells, according to the researchers.