Scientists have extracted two ice core samples from a glacier at the Tibetan Plateau in China that contain viruses nearly 15,000 years old.
Zhi-Ping Zhong, lead author of the virus study and researcher at The Ohio State University, said that as the glaciers formed gradually, they trapped dust, gases, as well as viruses in the ice. Studying the different layers of the ice cores help scientists learn about climate change, microbes, and viruses over the centuries.
Previous studies conducted in Western China were limited in its ice core analysis. Now that they have new ice core samples, scientists discovered genetic codes for 33 viruses. Four of the viruses were previously known to science, but at least 28 of them were novel.
Interestingly, about half of the viruses survived because they had gene sequences that made them thrive in extreme environments. "These viruses have signatures of genes that help them infect cells in cold environments - just surreal genetic signatures for how a virus is able to survive in extreme conditions," said professor Matthew Sullivan of Ohio State. "These are not easy signatures to pull out, and the method that Zhi-Ping developed to decontaminate the cores and to study microbes and viruses in ice could help us search for these genetic sequences in other extreme icy environments – Mars, for example, the moon, or closer to home in Earth’s Atacama Desert," he added.
Image credit: Lonnie Thompson
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