New viruses discovered in the ocean

[Kittenpuncher]

🤑

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/thousands-of-new-viruses-discovered-in-the-ocean/ar-AAW4bRV?ocid=mmx&PC=EMMX01

Just saw this, thousands of viruses have been discovered in the ocean that were never known to man before the conclusion of some study.

Turns out that this is actually quite significant, and scientists are even considering doubling the amount of phyla classifications in biology, and phyla are just beneath kingdom if you weren't aware...

Researchers have already found one that is in a new phyla, and it is believed to be a significant part of the ecosystem on Earth due to being all over the oceans

Now I would be in stitches over the apocalyptic vibes this has but to my disappointment, this is said to be the first real large-scale exploration of RNA viruses found in oceans all over the world.

Needless to say it still seemed significant enough to post here, if it's not already in the biology section... Maybe I'm wrong and it will be moved? 

oh well

Edit: also how come I can't remove that fucking smiley it's gross and I can't get rid of it. Please just ignore it until I find some way to "do away" with it

Edited April 11, 2022 by Kittenpuncher

[Genady]

To me, the most interesting part of the article was not about the new viruses - they looked in a new environment, they found a new stuff, not very surprising - but rather about the RdRp gene:

"They examined genetic sequences extracted from small aquatic organisms known as plankton, which are common hosts for RNA viruses, the researchers said. They homed in on sequences belonging to RNA viruses by looking for an ancient gene called RdRp, which is found in all RNA viruses but is absent from other viruses and cells."

"RdRp gene is billions of years old"

"Understanding how the RdRp gene diverged over time could lead to a better understanding of how early life evolved on Earth, the authors said."

"RdRp is supposed to be one of the most ancient genes — it existed before there was a need for DNA"

"So we’re not just tracing the origins of viruses, but also tracing the origins of life."

[Cognizant]

There are billions of viruses around us and as far as I know their main "task" is to be helpful to us. There's an article in NYT that "Most of our viral DNA comes from one group in particular: retroviruses, a group that includes HIV." But then something goes wrong and they become aggressors aiming to use us and finally kill (rather a stupid aim, what for to kill the body that feeds you?..)
I've always wanted to identify that starting point when viruses turn into enemies. Does our behaviour/thoughts/desires/etc. motivate them?..

[Genady]

16 minutes ago, Cognizant said:

There are billions of viruses around us and as far as I know their main "task" is to be helpful to us. There's an article in NYT that "Most of our viral DNA comes from one group in particular: retroviruses, a group that includes HIV." But then something goes wrong and they become aggressors aiming to use us and finally kill (rather a stupid aim, what for to kill the body that feeds you?..)
I've always wanted to identify that starting point when viruses turn into enemies. Does our behaviour/thoughts/desires/etc. motivate them?..

In what way are viruses helpful to us?

[Kittenpuncher]

Viruses can't do much but harm to their hosts, bacteria can be helpful but viruses have a few key differences from bacteria that make it not likely for them to be symbiotic in any way

Maybe you mean that they are a part of the balance of an ecosystem?

As for killing their hosts, if evolution was genuine, it still seems likely that a whole lot of unhelpful traits could always be passed down without being eliminated from the gene pool

Plenty of viruses pass their species on even though they may kill their host

Like honestly surviving is not really that hard and has plenty of room for wasteful things

Especially for a virus or something like that

For another thing a virus has been like a virus since viruses began - only if all of the viruses went extinct would there not be things that function like a virus

And viruses could be pretty unique to the Earth's ecosystem anyway, I think, based off of the traits of a virus

[iNow]

7 hours ago, Kittenpuncher said:

Viruses can't do much but harm to their hosts

Exactly! Exactly... wrong.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/viruses-can-help-us-as-well-as-harm-us/

"A decade ago researchers were barely aware that the human virome existed. Today we see the vast virome as an integral part of the larger human microbiome, a crazy quilt of passive and active microscopic organisms that occupy almost every corner of our being. We have been mapping the virome for more than 10 years, and the deeper we investigate, the more the virome looks like a partnership that can influence our daily lives positively as well as negatively. Recent research shows we could even harness the virome to promote our own health. Investigators at the Rockefeller University, for example, purified an enzyme from a virus that kills bacteria found in patients who are struggling against methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infection. The results were so encouraging that the Food and Drug Administration designated the enzyme as a “breakthrough therapy.” Today we routinely speak about the “good” and “bad” bacteria in our lives. Viruses fall into the same categories."

You may as well be claiming that fingers can't do much but pick peoples noses. It's equivalently correct. 

The rest of your post follows this same pattern. More chaff than wheat. 

[Kittenpuncher]

Even though that's just an enzyme they extracted from the virus?

[Cognizant]

On 4/11/2022 at 7:37 PM, Genady said:

In what way are viruses helpful to us?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/science/ancient-viruses-dna-genome.html

[Genady]

1 hour ago, Cognizant said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/science/ancient-viruses-dna-genome.html

I don't know where it is , but I've heard it many time from mods: "Rule 2.7 requires the discussion to take place here ("material for discussion must be posted")"

[KyleLeClair]

Regarding the helpfulness of viruses on the human body, phages, a Duplodnaviria virus has been used in place of antibiotics when the carrier is resistant to antibiotic therapy. Phage therapy was used as far back as the early 20th century. It was abandoned when antibiotics were invented, but as we move into an age of resistance, phage therapy has reemerged as an innovative approach to this problem. "Most phages are infectious only to the bacteria that carry their complementary receptor". (Lin, Koskella, Lin) This of course can be utilized to our advantage. 

For example, Escherichia virus T4 (the species of bacteriophages that infect Escherichia coli (E-Coli) bacteria) is being optimized to fight E-Coli outbreaks in food and drug supplies. Specifically, the advancements of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas 9 editing process is facilitating the biosynthesis necessary to optimize phages for health and safety implementations.  

Also, RNA Phage VLP vaccines are in development and are a promising and powerful alternative approach to vaccines compared to conventional methods. 

These are just a few examples how viruses can be good for humans. I know that the last two examples are modified uses of naturally forming viruses. But phages naturally do some of these processes in their host without any human intervention. They're truly a robust bio-entity. 

Viruses are the most abundant bio-entity in the ocean, the majority of those viruses are bacteriophages. Discovering 1000s of of new viruses! Holy smokes, we could treat some serious disease with this discovery.  

 

 

(1) Lin DM, Koskella B, Lin HC. Phage therapy: An alternative to antibiotics in the age of multi-drug resistance. World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. 2017 Aug 6;8(3):162-173. doi:         10.4292/wjgpt.v8.i3.162. PMID: 28828194; PMCID: PMC5547374.

 

Edited August 19, 2022 by KyleLeClair
Changed solve to treat.