This raises concerns that as the world warms and ice melts, it could release pathogens unknown to science and spark a deadly pandemic.
Scientists found the viruses in a 1,000-foot (300-meter) ice core extracted from the Julia Glacier on the Tibetan Plateau, located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia.
Viruses date back up to 41,000 years and have survived three major shifts from cold to warm climates.
Fortunately, none of the 1,700 viruses found in this latest study pose any threat to human health, the scientists said. That’s because these viruses can only infect single-celled organisms and bacteria. They can’t make humans, animals, or even plants sick.
But studying them is important because they provide a window into Earth’s deep climate history, and could help us understand what microbial communities might look like in the future.
The Ohio State University-led team drilled more than 1,000 feet into the Julia Glacier, and divided the sample into nine sections, each representing a different time horizon and climate period. The sections ranged in age from 160,000 to 41,000 years.
The scientists extracted DNA from each fragment and used a process called metagenomic analysis to identify each individual viral strain.
Through their analysis, they found that the viral communities looked very different depending on the climate conditions at the time they were frozen.
“We saw clear shifts in viruses that were present in colder climates versus warmer climates,” Matthew Sullivan, a co-author of the study and a microbiologist at Ohio State University, told Popular Science.
For example, a distinct community of viruses formed 11,500 years ago, as the climate was shifting from the cold last glacial period to the warmer Holocene (modern era).
“This at least suggests a possible link between viruses and climate change,” said study co-author Zhiping Zhong, a research associate in microbiology at The Ohio State University.
The study was published in the journal Nature Geosciences.
Source: Daily Mail
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2024-09-01 14:49:10
