Scientists thaw nearly 48,000-year-old virus from Siberia

Scientists from several universities in Europe have thawed 13 viruses found in the permafrost, part of the permanently frozen ground, in Siberia, one of the coldest regions on the planet, in Russia.

The study, published on the BioRxiv prepress platform, has not yet been peer-reviewed. In the work of the researchers warn, reporting that this type of work is important, because “due to global warming, the irreversible melting of permafrost is releasing organic matter frozen for up to a million years.”

The researchers point out that this organic matter could come from “viruses that have lain dormant since prehistoric times.” According to scholars, the 13 viruses belong to five different classes and were collected in seven locations. Some, for example, came from the excrement of mammoths and the stomachs of Siberian wolves.

By harvesting these pathogens, they were introduced into a culture of amoebae. All work was done in the laboratory. Despite being frozen for 48,500 years, viruses have replicated. In other words, they can be contagious.

“We believe our results with viruses that infect Acanthamoeba [ameba] can be extrapolated to many other DNA viruses capable of infecting humans or animals. Thus, ancient permafrost (which is ultimately more than 50,000 years old) is likely to release these unknown viruses upon thawing,” the authors wrote in the study.

According to the researchers, increasing global warming and exploration of the Arctic could increase the thawing of prehistoric viruses. “The risk is likely to increase in the context of global warming, as permafrost thaw continues to accelerate and more people populate the Arctic as a result of industrial developments,” the article reports.

No risk of contamination

Although the scientists have thawed the viruses, the researchers have ensured that there is no risk of any of the pathogens escaping the laboratory and infecting humans or animals.

“The biological risk associated with the resurgence of prehistoric viruses that infect amoebae is therefore completely negligible. [Inserí-los em amebas é a] the best possible protection against an accidental infection of laboratory personnel or the spread of a terrible virus,” added the authors.

Scientists are also researching prehistoric viruses that can thaw and infect humans, according to the study. However, these investigations are carried out in highly biosafety centres.