Medusavirus
Medusavirus is a large DNA virus isolated from a Japanese hot spring, among other places worldwide, and is notable for having complete set of histone related genes. The virus can harden defenseless amoebas into stone-like cysts, but usually burst. The possibility that evolutionary emergence of complex eukaryotic cells from simpler prokaryotic cells has been suggested. The virus was named after Medusa, the Greek mythological monster whose gaze turned people to stone.
