Researchers have discovered that viruses vibrate. These movements emit noises, detectable by a specific tool. This could provide a new innovative method to identify viruses in the environment.
- The atoms present in the viruses generate vibrations, which emit sounds.
- Thanks to a specific method, researchers manage to analyze them.
- This could make it easier to make diagnostics but also to identify viruses in the environment.
It would now be possible to listen to viruses. Researchers from the University of Michigan have developed a method capable of capturing the vibratory frequencies of viral particles. They present their discovery in the specialized journal Pnas.
Virus: ultra -fast spectroscopy, an innovative detection method
“”The natural vibration frequencies of organic particles such as viruses and bacteria code critical information on their mechanical and biological states when they interact with their local environment, detail the researchers in the preamble. However, the detection and monitoring of these vibrations in a biological context at the level of a single particle are difficult to reach. “ To achieve this, they used a method, called ultra fast spectroscopy.
Understand the sound signals issued by viruses
It makes it possible to observe the vibratory oscillations generated by the atoms present in the viruses. Each of them has their own “Viral digital imprint “which makes it possible to differentiate them from each other. “”The ultrasonic spectrum of a lentiviral pseudovirus of 80 to 100 Nm reveals vibrational modes in the range of 19 to 21 GHz sensitive to the morphology of the virus and modes of 2 to 10 GHz with phase shift times Nanoseconde reflecting the interactions between the proteins of the viral envelope “specify the authors. For several minutes, they observed the trajectories of the viruses and their oscillations. “”The sensitivity, high resolution and speed of this approach promise more in-depth information on biological dynamics and early diagnoses in terms of unique micro-organism“, Note the authors.
Vibrations of viruses: a new method promising for diagnoses
They hope that this method will create new diagnostic tools, easier to use. “”If we could see these acoustic signatures and they were unique, then we could really open a whole new way of doing biology on microorganismsdevelops Dr. Elad Harel, corresponding author of research, in an interview with Ifl Science. You can immediately see what’s going on […] in real time. You do not need to develop tests and do all these very in -depth studies. You could do it very quickly. “ For example, sensors capable of detecting viruses in the air could be created in order to detect the presence of viral particles in certain public places. But this technique could also be useful for understanding the action of antiviral drugs on the replication of viruses. Finally, it could be used to distinguish active and inactive viral particles, in order to diagnose infections.
