In the Mariana Trench, the deepest deep-sea trench in the world, near the Mariana Islands archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, researchers have discovered a previously unknown species of bacteriophage. The virus with the tricky catalog name ‘vB_HmeY_H4907’ was found at a depth of 8,900 meters.
A team led by Min Wang of the Ocean University of China discovered the virus in sediments in the Mariana Trench south of Japan. It multiplies in bacteria normally found in the deep sea. “As far as we know, this is the deepest known isolated phage in the world,” the professor said.
Viruses only infect bacteria
Previous research suggests there is no precedent for bacteriophages, such as the virus found in the Mariana Trench, to infect humans or marine life because their hosts are exclusively bacteria, the scientists report in the journal ‘Microbiology Spectrum’. The new virus can therefore be stored in a normal laboratory at four degrees Celsius.
Bacteria are found around hot springs
According to the researchers, the bacteria infected with the virus are usually found in deep-sea sediments and in so-called hydrothermal vents – which are openings in the seabed from which hot water flows are released.
The approximately 2,400 kilometer long Mariana Trench is a deep-sea channel in the Pacific Ocean, with the deepest place below sea level at a depth of approximately 11,000 meters. The water pressure there is approximately 1070 bar. It is – like the Mariana Group – named after the Spanish queen Maria Anna of Austria (1634 to 1696).
Source: Krone
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