Beneath the frigid Arctic soil lurks a frozen soup of viruses, bacteria and fungal spores. Unlike the icy leftovers in the back of the freezer, some of these microbes haven’t interacted with cells long before the ancient Egyptians built them. Pyramids of Gizaas climate change But these permafrost-trapped bacteria are starting to thaw.
But do the newly thawed microbes “wake up” and infect anything, and to what extent do they pose a potential threat to human and environmental health? It’s a question an international team at has begun to explore in a new study available in a preprint database. Bio Rxiv (opens in new tab).
Disease outbreaks from permafrost are not unprecedented.Siberian reindeer herds regularly become infected with anthrax from bacteria in thawed permafrost, according to a study published in 2021 in the journal Frontiers of veterinary medicine (opens in new tab)and this problem is also affecting a small number of people in these areas.
For new non-peer-reviewed studies, researchers isolated 13 newly described virus From seven permafrost samples and two water samples from a Siberian river.3 of the viruses — named megavirus mammoth, pysovirus mammoth When pandora virus mammoth — was found in a 27,000-year-old petrified mammoth hair. Another was found in the frozen intestines of an ancient Siberian wolf.
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In a contained laboratory setting, scientists carefully thawed the microbes and sequenced their genomes.The researcher was then infected Amoeba A cell with a newly awakened virus. Despite being 48,000 years old, some viruses were able to replicate within the amoeba and rupture to release new virus particles.
“The revived one is not in any danger. It will only be infected with the amoeba.” Jean-Michel Clavery (opens in new tab)A computational microbiologist at the University of Aix-Marseille in France and co-author of the new study, told Live Science via email. “But their presence and infectivity suggests that ancient viruses that infect animals and humans may still be infectious.”
The researchers focused on viruses that infect amoebas because they make excellent model organisms and pose minimal risk of accidental spillover to laboratory technicians. doing [the amoeba’s] Billions of years of evolutionary distance from humans and other mammals as the best possible protection,” they wrote in their paper.
Previous research on trapped viruses north pole There was very little permafrost. However, the authors say the study disproves the old hypothesis that permafrost contains few viable microorganisms. In addition to the viruses they revived, the team found traces of many other species, including those related to known human pathogens such as poxviruses and herpesviruses.
But if one of these strains wakes up and infects humans, the latest vaccines will likely offer some protection. Causative pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 (new coronavirus infectious disease)these bacteria can spread rapidly through populations that lack natural immunity, pandemicSuch viruses, even if they infect humans, need to be studied and understood, and vaccine development is difficult.
Currently, political turmoil in the region has halted the collection of new permafrost samples. “All our cooperation is currently suspended because of the war between Russia and Ukraine,” Clavery explained, adding that his lab will continue to study the virus they have. urges companies that start drilling and mining operations in Siberian permafrost to exercise caution and proceed with caution. For example, monitoring for unusual diseases and setting up appropriate quarantine facilities.
“I believe it underlines the point that all kinds of viruses can survive in permafrost,” Claverie said.
