# Giruses may have influenced evolution on a large scale The origin of viruses remains a mystery; they probably originate from DNA that escaped from cells. They are nonetheless among the most successful organisms on Earth. Some viruses are so big they are referred to as "giruses". Contrary to normal viruses who have around ten genes, giruses commonly have hundreds or thousands of them. They generally hunt amoebae, creating a viroplasm inside the cell to replicate themselves. It is believed they can alter the physiology of their victims, creating chimeric organisms, or even absorbing their genes; they might have influenced evolution on a large scale. At the very least, they are threatening enough for some cells to have stored virophage genetic material in their DNA to defend against girus infection. However, much like bacteria have CRISPR to defend against viruses, giruses have also developed MIMIVIRE to defend against virophages. --- ## 📚 References - [[@kurzgesagtThisVirusShouldnt2021|This Virus Shouldn't Exist (But It Does)]]