Ancient virus from 48,500 years ago has been revived! Scientists warn: It may pose a threat to humans

According to a report on the website of the British magazine New Scientist on the 23rd, French scientists recently revived seven viruses that had been frozen in the Siberian permafrost for tens of thousands of years. The youngest of them was frozen for 27,000 years; the oldest was frozen for 48,500 years, making it the oldest virus revived so far. The relevant research was published on the biological preprint website bioRxiv.

The team led by Jean-Michel Claverie of the University of Marseille, who led the latest study, had previously revived two viruses that had been frozen in permafrost for 30,000 years.

The 48,500-year-old virus, which came from permafrost 16 meters below the surface of a lake in Yakutia, Russia, is a Pandoravirus, a giant virus that infects single-celled organisms called amoebas. In fact, all nine viruses the team has resurrected so far are giant viruses that infect amoebas.

In the latest study, scientists added permafrost samples to amoeba cultures and examined them under a microscope for signs of infection, which showed that the virus was "alive" and able to replicate itself .

The fact that the viruses were still able to infect cells suggests that if the permafrost thaws, these ancient viruses could potentially infect plants and animals, including humans, Claverie said. And if ancient giant viruses are still infectious after being frozen for so long, then other kinds of viruses could be infectious, too.

The research team pointed out that the nine viruses they revived are different from all previously known viruses, so it is extremely unlikely that they came from contaminated samples. In addition, it is possible to revive viruses older than 48,500 years, because the deepest permafrost is one million years old, but it is difficult to determine the age of ancient permafrost because standard radiocarbon dating methods do not work beyond 50,000 years.

"It makes sense to understand all the risks that could arise so we can be as prepared as possible," said Rebecca Katz of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. "The threat of thawing permafrost releasing ancient viruses is a very real one."

But Eric Delvoye of the University of California, Los Angeles, thinks the risk of ancient permafrost viruses causing a pandemic is far lower than viruses circulating in domestic and wild animals .

Source: Science and Technology Daily