A
mysterious virus hiding in the permafrost in remote Siberia has attracted the
attention of scientists, who are hoping to resurrect it.
The virus, called Mollivirus sibericum,
or soft virus from Siberia, is a newly discovered virus that was discovered in
permafrost dating back 30,000 years, according to the Arctic Newswire.
The virus was found in Russia’s Chukotka
region, and was detailed in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.
It’s the 4th time since 2003 that
researchers have found a giant virus from ancient times, and these same researchers
found one of the previous viruses in this same permafrost.
As global warming intensifies, prehistoric
permafrost will begin to melt, and unleash this virus onto the world.
Mollivirus
sibericum is a spherical organism that is huge compared to other viruses, but
is still just 0.6 microns in diameters — giant viruses are viruses that are
over 0.5 microns. A micron is just a thousandth of a millimeter, for perspective.
These giant viruses can be seen with normal microscopes.
French and Russian scientists were
behind the discovery.
And that giant virus doesn’t compare to
an even bigger virus, measured at a whopping 1.5 micron: the Pithovirus
sibericum. The research team that found it was able to activate it, and
detailed their findings in a study published in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. It’s the largest virus scientists have ever found, and it
can even infect amoebas. Humans have nothing to worry from it, however,
scientists say.
This new species of virus that was
recently discovered is pretty diverse when it comes to genetics, having more
than 500 genes compared to eight genes in the Influence A virus.
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