It’s not quite a virus. It’s not quite a living cell.
Meet Sukunaarchaeum mirabile — a strange new microbe discovered by scientists from Canada and Japan that’s shaking the foundations of biology.
In a study led by Ryo Harada of Dalhousie University and published on bioRxiv, researchers found this bizarre organism while analyzing samples of ocean plankton. What they uncovered is something that defies classification.
Like a virus, Sukunaarchaeum mirabile can’t survive or reproduce without a host. Its genome is stripped down to the bare essentials, focused almost entirely on reproduction — showing extreme metabolic dependence. But unlike any virus we’ve known, it also contains genes that allow it to build its own ribosomes and RNA molecules — key tools for protein production usually found only in fully living cells.
That makes this organism a biological paradox.
Genetic analysis revealed that Sukunaarchaeum belongs to the Archaea — a primitive branch of life believed to have given rise to all complex organisms, including humans. Its unique hybrid nature could be a missing evolutionary link, offering insight into how life transitioned from simple viral structures to full cellular complexity.
What’s even more fascinating is what this organism could teach us. By breaking the mold of how we define life, it may reshape our understanding of evolution, cell biology, and even the search for alien life.
Is it alive? Is it a virus? Maybe it’s both — or something entirely new.