The discovery of a giant virus in an Arctic lake was surprising. This giant virus in the Arctic lake infects algae. Its unusual size makes the discovery of this virus a phenomenon of nature which is quite scary.
Who would have thought that the steps of scientists digging deeper into the Arctic lake had produced far greater results than their previous expectations.
They found a new virus in the extraordinary lake. What makes this discovery very interesting and unusual is the fact that the size of the virus is large.
Read also: Discovery of 5,500 new viruses in the ocean with rare RNA genetics!
Scientists discover giant virus in Arctic lake
Arctic Lake is one of the rather special lakes. Because this lake is located in the vast Arctic Ocean.
One thing that makes this lake special and different from other lakes is their mass of fresh water that floats just above the dense seawater.
Existing research shows that the water contains increasingly different types of viruses than the seawater below.
After diving deeper into the world of Arctic lakes, scientists were able to find one of the “giant” viruses that is larger than other viruses.
Read also: The Mystery of Meteorite Forest Fires Unveiled Millions of Years Ago!
Infect the algae inside
The scientists took and sequenced the DNA they found in water samples from Arctic lakes for research. As a result, they were able to identify that there is a huge variety of these viruses.
Some of these viruses belong to the giant virus group. The group is called Megaviricetes.
More interestingly, the giant virus was seen infecting microscopic algae found on the boundary between the freshwater of the lake and the seawater below.
Of course, the discovery of a giant virus in the Arctic lake is the result of a very interesting study.
Read also: Examples of frequently occurring geosphere phenomena, listen here!
Size like bacteria
The word “giant” doesn’t mean this virus is the size of a whale or anything like that. However, the word “giant” refers to the size of the virus which is larger than most viruses.
Scientists discovered this new Megavoices virus about 20 years ago.
If the hallmark of a virus is its small body, smaller than the smallest bacteria and carrying only a few genes, then Megaviricietes are the same size as bacteria. This virus also has a genome that has the potential to carry many interesting genes.
After this discovery, the researchers hope to learn even more detailed information about the ecosystem in this special Arctic lake in the future.
However, they must also race against time. Rising temperatures due to global warming could destroy the ice that holds fresh water in Arctic lakes.
Ice is used to hold freshwater and seawater together. If the ice melts, the lake is in danger of disappearing. The results of the study on the discovery of a giant virus in the Arctic lake were published online in the journal ‘Applied and Environmental Microbiology’. (R10 / HR-Online)
–
