West News Wire: The deepest virus ever detected in Earth’s oceans, a new one was found in the Pacific.
It belongs to the class of organisms known as bacteriophages, which multiply and infect bacteria.
They are thought to be the most prevalent life forms on Earth and are important for maintaining the ecosystem of the ocean by regulating population levels and releasing nutrients.
This one was discovered in the Mariana Trench, the lowest point of the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 8,900 metres.
The Ocean University of China’s Min Wang, a marine virologist, stated: “To our best knowledge, this is the deepest known isolated phage in the global ocean.”
Following genomic analysis of the new virus, which can’t infect humans, it was named vB_HmeY_H4907.
While only just found, researchers believe it’s likely to be distributed widely in the ocean.
It has a similar structure to host bacteria group halomonas, which are often found in sediments and geyser-like openings on the seafloor.
According to Dr. Wang, its popularity could help future studies regarding how viruses survive in some of the harshest and most isolated places on Earth.
Extreme conditions provide the best opportunities for discovering new viruses, he continued.
The journal Microbiology Spectrum has published a thorough account of the results.
