Israeli scientists from Tel Aviv University discovered about 100,000 new types of viruses. This number is nine times greater than the number of RNA viruses already known to science.
It is reported Arutz Sheva. These viruses have been found in soil samples, oceans, lakes, sewage, geysers and many other ecosystems. Data was collected by more than 100 researchers from all over the world.
Scientists believe that this discovery could be useful in the development of antimicrobial drugs and help protect against fungi and parasites harmful to agriculture.
The study was conducted in collaboration with the US research organizations NIH and JGI, as well as the Pasteur Institute in France. His results were published in a scientific journal Cell.
“The study was led by doctoral student Uri Neri under the supervision of Professor Uri Gofna from the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at the Faculty of Life Sciences of Tel Aviv University,” the statement said.
Researchers have reportedly developed a sophisticated computational tool that can distinguish between the genetic material of RNA viruses and host viruses. It was used to analyze the obtained data. The discovery allowed scientists to understand how viruses went through different acclimatization processes during their evolutionary development to adapt to different hosts.
“In our study, we found that RNA viruses are not unusual in the evolutionary landscape and, in fact, in some respects they are not very different from DNA viruses. This opens the door for future research and for a better understanding of how viruses can be used for medicine and agriculture,” the scientists say.
