Tom Delmont has been studying the diversity of marine plankton through environmental genomics for the past fifteen years. This approach involves directly analysing DNA collected from the oceans, without prior laboratory culture. His work draws on the massive datasets generated by the Tara Oceans expedition, which sampled plankton around the world.
By exploring these data, his team identified a previously unknown group of viruses: mirusviruses. Widespread in aquatic environments, these viruses share structural similarities with herpesviruses, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin. Today, 10% of the Tara Oceans data remain unexplained. Tom is focusing on these mysterious fragments, convinced that they may conceal new viral lineages.
 @ T. Delmont
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Congratulations to the award winner!
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Pour plus d'informations sur ses recherches
Institut de biologie François Jacob - Conférences En Direct de l'IBFJ - 2026
Unexpected giant viruses that infect the nuclei of marine protists
Contact : Tom Delmont