The new coronavirus may be just the "tip of the iceberg", scientists have discovered 5,500 new RNA viruses

Introduction: By analyzing seawater samples from around the world, scientists have created a new database of RNA viruses, expanding ecological research possibilities and reshaping our understanding of virus evolution
.

Recently, an international research team from countries such as the United States, France and Switzerland, with the help of artificial intelligence machine learning, identified 5,500 new RNA viruses from seawater samples collected around the world, creating a database on RNA viruses
.

The related research results were published in Science under the title of "Cryptic and abundant marine viruses at the evolutionary origins of Earth's RNA virome"
.

The study increases the possibility of ecological research, reshaping our understanding of how these small but important submicroscopic particles evolved
.

In addition, this discovery will also help scientists better understand how early life on Earth evolved, and then trace the origin of life
.

 Figure 1 Research results (Source: Science) At present, the scientific community has insufficient research and understanding of RNA viruses outside of diseases, and their evolution rate is much faster than that of DNA viruses
.

While scientists have classified hundreds of thousands of DNA viruses in natural ecosystems, relatively little research has been done on RNA viruses
.

 In this study, in order to identify new viruses containing RNA genetic material, the researchers analyzed about 35,000 water samples around the world by using two methods of machine learning and phylogenetic trees, and finally found 5,500 new viruses
.

Previously, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) confirmed five categories of RNA viruses, but the newly discovered RNA viruses cannot be completely classified into the known virus categories, at least five new RNA virus categories are required to include them
.

The researchers grouped the viruses into five newly proposed phyla, including Taravircota, Pomiviricota, Paraxenviricota, Wamoviricota, and Arctivicota
.

 Lead author Matthew Sullivan said the discovery of a complete phylum of RNA viruses, Taravircota, across the ocean suggests that they are ecologically important
.

This new phylum of RNA viruses may be the 'missing link' in the evolution of early RNA viruses billions of years ago, linking the two distinct known branches of RNA viruses that are said to exist in the way they replicate disagreement
.

These efforts provide key fundamentals for integrating RNA viruses into ecological and epidemiological models
.

 The researchers extracted gene sequences from marine plankton and narrowed their analysis to RNA sequences containing a gene called RdRp, which has evolved over billions of years in RNA viruses but not in other viruses or cells.
does not exist
.

The existence of RdRp can be traced back to the time when life was first discovered on earth.
Up to now, its sequence position has changed many times, so the traditional phylogenetic tree relationship cannot be described only by sequence
.

The researchers used machine learning to analyze 44,000 new sequences to summarize sequence changes over billions of years, and validated the method by showing that the technique had accurately classified the identified RNA virus sequences
.

 In response, Sullivan said: "We have created a computationally replicable way to calibrate RNA virus sequences that we are confident can more accurately reflect RNA virus evolution
.
"
Zayed said: "RdRp is one of the oldest genes, and figuring out how RdRp evolved over time may help to better understand how early life evolved on Earth.

.

This is not only tracing the origin of viruses, but also tracing the origin of life.

”
Written | Typesetting by Mu Zijiu | Luna End Reference: [1] Zayed AA, Wainaina JM, Dominguez Huerta G, et al.
Cryptic and abundant marine viruses at the evolutionary origins of Earth's RNA virome.
Science.
2022 Apr 8;376( 6589):156-162.
doi: 10.
1126/science.
abm5847.
Epub 2022 Apr 7.
PMID: 35389782.