The researchers were even able to identify which creatures the viruses might attack, a discovery that is expected to help promote the development of different bacterial, fungal and pest killers for agriculture
An international study led by researchers from Tel Aviv University has discovered about one hundred thousand new types of viruses that were previously unknown to science. The viruses, of the RNA type, were discovered in worldwide environmental data from soil samples, oceans, lakes and a variety of ecosystems. This is actually an increase of one-ninth of the amount of RNA viruses known to science so far. The researchers estimate that the discovery can help in the development of antibiotics and in defense against agricultural pests.
The research was conducted under the leadership of doctoral student Uri Neri under the direction of Prof. Uri Gofna from the Shmunis School at the Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University. The research was done in collaboration with the research bodies "NIH", "JGI" from the USA, and the Pasteur Institute in France. The study was published in the prestigious journal Cell and included data collected by more than a hundred scientists around the world.
Data mining from all over the globe
The researchers explain that viruses, viruses in Hebrew, are genetic parasites, meaning that they must infect a living cell in order to replicate their genetic information, produce new viruses and complete their infection cycle. Some viruses are disease-causing agents that may harm humans (such as the corona virus), although the vast majority of viruses do not harm us - some even live inside our bodies and we are not aware of it at all.
Uri Neri explains that the research included the use of new computational technologies to mine genetic information collected from thousands of different sampling points around the world (oceans, soil, sewage, geysers, etc.). The researchers developed a sophisticated computational tool that differentiates between the genetic material of RNA viruses and that of the hosts, and used it to analyze the copy data. The discovery allowed the researchers to reconstruct how throughout their evolutionary development, the viruses underwent diverse adaptation processes in order to adapt to different hosts.
As part of the analysis of the findings, the researchers were even able to locate viruses suspected of infecting various pests, thus opening a way to use viruses to control and treat pests. Prof. Gofna: "The system we developed allows for an in-depth evolutionary analysis and to understand how the various RNA viruses have developed throughout history. One of the key questions in the world of microbiology is how and why viruses transfer genes between them. We identified a number of cases in which such gene exchange allowed viruses to infect new creatures. Also, compared to DNA viruses, the diversity and roles of RNA viruses in microbial ecosystems is not well understood. In our research we found that RNA viruses are not unusual in the evolutionary landscape and in fact in certain aspects are not that different from DNA viruses. This is a wide opening for future research and a better understanding of how viruses can be harnessed for our use in medicine and agriculture."
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