Whether in the Himalayas or the polar regions: thousands of unknown viruses live in glaciers. This is evident from a study by Chinese researchers who examined samples of snow, ice and meltwater from the Tibetan plateau and discovered tens of thousands of new virus species.
Despite the cold, the viruses found on the roof of the world are anything but passive: they reproduced as quickly as viruses in the sea or freshwater lakes. More than 83 percent of the newly discovered glacier viruses are so-called bacteriophages. Because these viruses – as their name suggests – are specialized in infecting bacteria, they do not pose a direct threat to humans or animals.
“The supraglacial viruses (found on the surface of glaciers, note) are highly specific compared to viruses from other habitats,” report the scientists led by Yongqin Liu of Lanzhou University. Because some of these viruses do not immediately kill their bacterial hosts, genes from the viral genome can be transferred into that of the bacteria, according to the researchers.
Danger of resistance in bacteria
What can have negative consequences is that the transferred viral genes can also cause bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics. In their study, the researchers were able to detect 31 unique resistance genes and more than 1,400 so-called virulence-coding genes (the ones that enhance the pathogenic effect, take note).
That is why the researchers now want to further investigate what their discovery means for ecosystems and the health of people living near the Tibetan glaciers. As glaciers melt due to global warming, more and more viruses may be released.
Source: Krone
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