Bacteriophage: The Weirdest Looking Virus You’ve Ever Seen

Published on November 11th, 2009

Posted by Uncle Dave in medical, strange

Click pic to learn all about it

18 users responded in " Bacteriophage: The Weirdest Looking Virus You’ve Ever Seen "

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# 1 Jägermeister said, on November 11th, 2009 at 4:13 pm

Dildoviridae

# 2 Li said, on November 11th, 2009 at 4:31 pm

The bacteriophage was the first virus I ever saw, so I can’t say it looks so odd.

Viruses of the genus Geminiviridae actually have two separate particles each containing genetic information, and only with both present can infection and replication occur. Now that’s weird.

# 3 Get a Job said, on November 11th, 2009 at 4:51 pm

Rather amazing looks like a sandwich on steroids or perhaps my old boss

# 4 Sister Mary Hand Grenade of Quiet Reflection said, on November 11th, 2009 at 4:51 pm

Cute little fucker!

# 5 a schtick in your eye said, on November 11th, 2009 at 6:23 pm

It’s a Big Mac with legs.

# 6 honeyman said, on November 11th, 2009 at 6:24 pm

If it were bigger it would make a dandy mike stand for Curry.

# 7 Special Ed said, on November 11th, 2009 at 6:25 pm

It might be a Jewish virus, it looks like an upside down dreidel.

# 8 noname said, on November 11th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

This looks like a defect on a silicon wafer.

I’ve seen random defects that look toilets, faces, baseballs ….

# 9 Macbandit said, on November 11th, 2009 at 8:27 pm

Looks like a face F@&cker.

# 10 Jopa said, on November 11th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

Viruses are the weirdos of nature… I mean, look at it!
LOL

# 11 gal416 said, on November 11th, 2009 at 10:46 pm

Defense Department test #42 of 120.

# 12 soundwash said, on November 12th, 2009 at 3:22 am

#11 -lol (in a sad sort of way)

that was the first thing that came to mind when i saw it. (ie military research)

-s

# 13 Boo-Man said, on November 12th, 2009 at 5:09 am

One of the densest natural sources for phages and other viruses is sea water.

(they are the cause of global warming mutations like Al Gore)

They have been used for over 60 years as an alternative to antibiotics in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

(so it’s an antibiotic)

They are seen as a possible therapy against multi-drug resistant strains of many bacteria.

(so it’s a natural antibiotic)

The relationship between bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts is very important in the context of the food fermentation industry.

(they do dinner together quite often)

# 14 andycatus said, on November 12th, 2009 at 5:12 am

#8 You win a prize because you are almost right.

If you read the article the picture shown is a scanning electron micrograph of a man made model (ie non working) of just the shape of a real virus. Probably fabricated on a silicon substrate.

# 15 Boo-Man said, on November 12th, 2009 at 5:24 am

One might question the science behind this photo which looks more and more like a computer generated rendering every second. When looking at the above photograph and comparing it to one that shows a number of the bacteriophages attached to a cell, here we have a whole bunch of them “in action” with curved stems. I highly doubt that a bacteriophage would “stand at attention” as such. In fact, one might study the entire process of how these “electron photographs” are made.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Phage.jpg

Oh, I see Andycatus just proved my point already.

# 16 Winston said, on November 12th, 2009 at 8:08 am

The Andromeda strain. Excellent film, the original version anyway.

# 17 The Monster's Lawyer said, on November 12th, 2009 at 8:13 am

That ain’t nothing. You should see the virus I picked up in the UK. Ugly Brits

# 18 Buzz said, on November 12th, 2009 at 4:47 pm

The layering on the payload pod is an artifact of the SEM. Here’s a clearer visualization:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ofd_lgEymto&NR=1

I saw the first visualization of these over 30 years ago, making the headline a tad non sequitur. How many things have been a part of your life for thirty years that seem “weird?”

You want weird? Look at your ear.

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