Thank an ancient squirrel, climate change and French scientists
for the new discovery of an ancient virus, Mollivirus
sibericum, that sounds like it could launch a creepy movie.
"Actually
there's already a science-fiction novel inspired by one of our last
(discoveries). Look on Amazon," saidJean-Michel
Claverie, a professor of medical genomics and bioinformatics at the University Of Mediterranean
School Of Medicine in
Marseille, France. "But with the ancient squirrel, I can see where you
might think movie."
The virus has
been at rest for 30,000 years about 30 meters deep in the Siberian permafrost.
Astrobiologists using it as kind of stand-in for Mars have taken core samples looking for
life. Claverie said he stumbled on research that described reviving a plant from a seed that had been buried for
30,000 years. What intrigued Claverie was that the particular core sample came
into contact with an ancient squirrel's nest.
"And what
do all squirrels do all their life? They store seeds for eating," Claverie
said. Wondering what else they might find, he sent the scientists an email that
launched collaboration between Russian and French research teams and led to
several discoveries.
Waking an ancient virus
When Claverie's team got the sample,
they knew they'd have to be careful to protect animals and humans from whatever
was in it; they weren't sure if they'd wake up Captain America or the Winter
Soldier.
"We're not
stupid enough to revive a virus that may pose a threat to human health,"
Claverie said.
So, they went
fishing. "We use amoeba as bait to fish out whatever viruses may be in
that specific sample," Claverie said.
The amoeba was
the type typically found in contact
lens infections. The team grew them, then mixed in parts of the permafrost
samples in a petri dish. Most of the time, nothing happened.
"But every
once in a while, we see them die and that's when we know somebody must be
killing them," Claverie said. "This way, we know which to isolate
from the others." Scientists say they are safeguarding the virus sample.
Using this
technique has led to several discoveries -- Mollivirus sibericum is
the latest of four giant viruses found so far in this one
sample. It's called a "giant" virus because you can see it under a
light microscope, like a bacteria, and it has a large number of genes.
The name comes
from Molli, a hard-to-translate French word that essentially means something
that is soft or flexible, Claverie said, and Sibericum for the location where
it was found.
"The name
is a little mundane compared to the last giant virus we found 'the Pandoraviruses,'"
he said. "Mollivirus sibericum, though could be as equally dangerous as
what is in Pandora's Box, based on its behavior.
"It was a
very low concentration of these viruses that infected the amoeba. If you think
about it, it's really scary that only a handful of particles might be
sufficient enough to start an epidemic."
Which is why, in
the paper Claverie and his team published in a recent edition of PNAS, they
express concern about other ventures into the permafrost.
What's hiding in the permafrost?
As climate
change has opened up new maritime
routes through the arctic sea ice, Claverie and his team worry about the
increasing number of companies already mining for gold and
tungsten along the northern coast of Siberia.
The companies
will excavate millions of tons of permafrost that have lain undisturbed for
thousands and thousands of years.
If this one core
sample yielded at least four giant viruses, there is no telling what frozen
surprisescould be suddenly exposed in open mining.
"What may
be in those layers is very worrying," Claverie said.
But they may
also hold great promise. Secrets there could unlock a new understanding of
metabolic pathways and biochemical processes that could lead to the creation of
new drugs and biotechnology.
Or that ancient
squirrel could lead us to something even bigger, Claverie wrote: "Part of
what we don't know might turn out to contain the explanation to fundamental
questions such as the origin of life on our planet."
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