A giant ancient virus was discovered under the melting ice of the Siberian permafrost. French scientists who are studying the 30,000-year-old virus prepare to bring it to life in their laboratory.
The French team from the National Centre for Scientific Research has published their study Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.
In the research paper, the scientists explain that the "giant virus" called Mollivirus sibericum has been discovered in the frozen Siberian permafrost that now is starting to melt due to global warming.
Since 2003, this is, in fact, the fourth "giant" virus found and analyzed. According to scientists, these discoveries could be of concern in the face of melting ice and climate change.
"A few viral particles that are still infectious may be enough, in the presence of a vulnerable host, to revive potentially pathogenic viruses," one of the lead researchers, Jean-Michel Claverie told AFP that just a few viral particles might be infectious enough to infect a vulnerable host, revive a potentially pathogenic virus.
This might sound scary, considering that human hosts living in modern times would not have antibodies to fight the unknown virus and they immune system will be left without defense against the virus attack. This can create a deadly pandemic spreading fast across the globe like in the terrifying scenarios of certain horror sci-fi movies.
According to AFP, the virus recently found can be called "giant" because it is longer than 0.00002 of an inch or half a micron. The researchers have plans to bring the virus back to life in a safe laboratory setting. The virus will be placed in a single cell amoeba for research purposes. This sounds like a risky venture. We all can just hope it will never escape their lab.
Bringing a 30,000-year-old virus back to life sounds very similar with some plots horror movies. Only this time it is going to happen in real life. Scientists who discovered the prehistoric virus will give it its first wake up call since the last Ice Age. They hope that their research could bring more insight into ancient dormant viruses that may get another chance at spreading as climate change pushes permafrost to retreat.
