A team of scientists have discovered the largest virus to date. It is 30,000 years old and was found in the permafrost. The team of scientists are evolutionary biologists Jean-Michel Claverie and Chantal Abergel, from the University of France. The scientists named the virus Pithovirus sibericum. The discovery was made because of the melting of the permafrost due to global climate change. The virus was discovered and is still very active. Fortunately, the virus does not pose a threat to humans, only to amoebae.
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Photo retrieved from http://www.nature.com/news/giant-virus-resurrected-from-30-000-year-old-ice-1.14801#/b1 |
The reason the discovery was made was because Claverie and Abergel heard of a team of Russian scientists that resurrected an ancient plant from fruits buried in 30,000 year old permafrost. Claverie thought, "If it is possible to revive a plant, I wonder if it is possible to revive a virus." It is known that amoebae are prime targets of larger viruses. They were then granted samples from the Russian scientists that resurrected the ancient plant. Using that amoebae samples as bait Claverie and Abergel were able to fish the virus out of the permafrost. When the amoebae started to die they realized that there must be a virus there. They were correct, they found giant virus particles inside the amoebae. After analyzing the virus, Claverie made a very interesting discovery. This was the largest virus to date, and Claverie found "that the huge particle is practically empty." This is interesting because most viruses are packed extremely tightly with DNA and the largest one ever discovered was practically empty. Claverie then concluded, "...We don't understand anything anymore!"
The article is very interesting finding the world's largest virus to date is very exciting. It can also be telling. Although unlikely, it is possible that the climate change could release an active virus that could be dangerous or deadly to human beings. This should be another reason to try and curb the effects of global climate change.
Article
http://www.nature.com/news/giant-virus-resurrected-from-30-000-year-old-ice-1.14801#/b1
Related Article
http://www.nature.com/news/wild-flower-blooms-again-after-30-000-years-on-ice-1.10069
The article is very interesting finding the world's largest virus to date is very exciting. It can also be telling. Although unlikely, it is possible that the climate change could release an active virus that could be dangerous or deadly to human beings. This should be another reason to try and curb the effects of global climate change.
Article
http://www.nature.com/news/giant-virus-resurrected-from-30-000-year-old-ice-1.14801#/b1
Related Article
http://www.nature.com/news/wild-flower-blooms-again-after-30-000-years-on-ice-1.10069
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