An ancient virus found 15,000 years ago on a glacier

It is said that more than 30 viruses have been found in ice samples mined from glaciers in the highlands of northwest China, which existed for 15,000 years. According to the research team, of the 33 species found in this sample, 28 were unknown viruses that had never been discovered.

A joint research team from the United States and China visited the Tibetan Plateau in northwestern China in 1992 and 2005 to collect samples from a 50m depth of a block of ice called the Guliya ice cap. Since both of the samples collected were contaminated on the outer layer, the research team excised the sample by 5 mm from the outer layer, washed with ethanol and water, exposed a completely uncontaminated ice layer, and investigated the microorganisms inside.

As a result, 33 viruses were found in two samples, of which 28 were known to be new viruses. In addition, it is said that the types of microorganisms in the samples collected in 1992 and the samples collected in 2005 were significantly different. The research team argues that the difference in the microbes included in the two samples is due to the difference in climate at the time when the samples were deposited.

An environmental virology researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research said it is not surprising that dozens of viruses have not been discovered at all. However, the research team speculates that it may be difficult to find ancient viruses that have been sleeping in glaciers due to the effects of artificial climate change, and they are concerned that microbes or viruses that have been trapped for thousands or tens of thousands of years due to warming will melt in glaciers around the world.

The team found that microbes and viruses among glaciers could be a source of information for investigating the past global climate, but climate change not only causes the archives of glaciers to be lost, and at worst, glacial melting can expose unknown pathogens to the environment. In fact, there were reports that more than 2,000 reindeer were killed and 96 local residents were hospitalized due to the outbreak of carbon germs of anthrax in the melted permafrost. An ancient microbiologist pointed out that increasing ice melting around the world increases the risk of pathogenic microbes entering the world. Related information can be found here .