posted April 03, 2015 07:14 AM            

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posted April 05, 2015 08:49 PM            

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The World's Largest Virus Was Just Resurrected From 34,000-Year-Old Permafrost
It's not a threat to humans, but does show that ancient viruses can persist for millennia and remain a potential health threat.

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There's also the fact that this virus survived for at least 30,000 years in frozen soil. Because viruses don't engage in most of the self-sustaining activities performed by all forms of life (they don't harness energy to regulating their own metabolism, for instance), it seems likely that they can survive in an inert state far longer than any life form. If the only limit is the amount of time their DNA can persist, it's possible they can survive several million years before it's irreparably damaged by natural radioactivity from the Earth. Claverie and Abergel are currently sampling older layers of frozen soil to search for even more ancient viruses.

But even though this particular virus poses no human health threat, its discovery raises unsettling questions. "[This] is a good demonstration that the notion that a virus could be 'eradicated' from the planet is plain wrong, and give us a false sense of security," Claverie says.
As the Arctic and subarctic warm, "mining and drilling mean bringing human settlements and digging through these ancient layers for the first time in millions of years. If viable virions are still there, this is a good recipe for disaster."

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