13 viruses tens of thousands of years old have been brought back to life by a team of French researchers in order to study what the thawing of the permafrost linked to global warming risks releasing as pathogens into the environment.
- Three of the viruses discovered were named Pithovirus mammoth, Pandoravirus mammoth and Megavirus mammoth.
- Two others have been named Pacmanvirus lupus and Pandoravirus lupus, after the frozen Siberian wolf from which they were extracted.
It represents 20% of the earth’s surface: permafrost. These are soils whose temperature remains below the threshold of 0°C for at least two consecutive years. They are mostly seen in high latitudes such as Greenland or northern Canada, as well as at high altitudes. But it is in the ice of eastern Russia that French researchers Aix-Marseille University carried out their work, which has just been pre-published.
A virus discovered, 48,500 years old
It is in these very cold places, more precisely in fecal matter and frozen mammoth wool found on site, that scientists have discovered and resuscitated 13 viruses. Three were 27,000 years old and one, the oldest, 48,500 years old.
“48,500 years is a new record“said Jean-Michel Claverie, professor of genomics and bioinformatics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Aix-Marseille, interviewed by the media New Scientist. His team had already resurrected a virus from the Siberian permafrost, but it was “only” 30,000 years old.
Reactivating old viruses to anticipate changes linked to global warming
But why reactivate old viruses? To better study them and anticipate their potential actions in the event of ice melting linked to global warming. At that time, many of the viruses trapped in the ice will be released and spread through ecosystems. Some will be reactivated and, according to scientists, could become pathogens for many species. These viruses will also have the capacity to reproduce and will therefore induce a significant epidemic risk.
Thus, reactivating them makes it possible to study them in advance and therefore to be better prepared. Indeed, with such work, scientists will already be able to work on vaccines and new antibiotics that will help fight them. At a time of global warming, anticipating its impact in terms of viral diseases should be a priority, according to the authors.
“As unfortunately well documented by recent (and ongoing) pandemics, each new virus, even linked to known families, almost always requires the development of very specific medical responses, such as new antivirals or vaccines., explain the authors. It is therefore legitimate to wonder about the risk of old viral particles remaining infectious and re-circulating through the thawing of old layers of permafrost.“.
