Scientists have revived a 48,500-year-old virus which is the oldest virus ever revived. The virus is named the Pandoravirus after Pandora’s box and it holds the record as the largest of all genera of viruses.
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This particular permafrost virus was first discovered in 2013 hidden under the ice of Siberia and after 48,500 years it has finally been revived. Scientists describe it as a giant virus because it can be seen under the light microscope and measures at one micrometre long and 0.5 micrometer wide.
According to Jean-Michel Claverie, a virologist at the University of Aix-Marseilles in France, The giant virus was found 16 meters below the Yukechi Alas lake in Russia.
This is,t the first time that the virologist and his team have resurrected an ancient virus. They have previously resurrected two 30,000-year-old viruses.
They managed to obtain nine other viruses in the permafrost of Siberia while on their expedition. The degree to which the viruses can affect humans or plants isn’t known yet but studies they conducted revealed that the viruses have the potential of infecting amoeba but are harmless to animals and plants.
Jean-Michel Claverie revealed that the viruses in our glaciers can awake by themselves and attack due to the melting of the glaciers. The recent discoveries may just be the tip of the iceberg as more harmful viruses and bacteria could just be hiding in the glaciers of Greenland and the Antarctica waiting to be awoken.