A new type of giant virus has been discovered by scientists from the 30,000-year-old frozen ice sample from extreme north-eastern Siberia. Scientists from Aix-Marseille University, Joseph Fourier University and Genoscope Institute examined the same frozen ice sample from which the third giant virus Pithovirus was discovered in 2014.
The new giant virus, called Mollivirus sibericum, was isolated by the scientists by simultaneously using four analytical techniques - genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metagenomics. The study is the first to use all these techniques in isolating a virus.
The Mollivirus has a roughly spherical particle, approximately 0.6 micrometers long, and contains proteins that are different from its three predecessors. It is able to reproduce in the amoeba by using the cell nucleus, much similar to the modern viruses such as the Adenovirus, Papillomavirus, or Herpesvirus.
"This discovery, which suggests that giant viruses are not so rare and are highly diversified, also proves that the ability of viruses to survive in the permafrost for very long periods is not restricted to a particular viral type, but probably covers viral families with varied - and hence potentially pathogenic - replication strategies," the authors wrote in a press release.
Scientists plan to get more ancient soil samples in Siberia to see if they could uncover more viruses that are millions of years old.
The study was published in the Sept. 7 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
