Mystery viruses found in ancient China glacier may help hunt for signs of life on Mars
Little is known about viruses found in extreme icy conditions, particularly those in glaciers.
But a new study uncovered some findings that could likely aid scientists in exploration efforts in extreme climates like those found on Mars or the moon.
A team of researchers at Ohio State University analyzed two ice cores taken from a nearly 15,000-year-old glacier from the northwestern Tibetan Plateau in China, according to their study published in Microbiome on Tuesday.
They found genetic codes for 33 viruses — at least 28 of which are “novel” and have never been identified. Around half of the viruses survived in the sample because they were frozen.
“These glaciers were formed gradually, and along with dust and gases, many, many viruses were also deposited in that ice,” Zhi-Ping Zhong, lead author of the study, said in a statement. “The glaciers in western China are not well-studied, and our goal is to use this information to reflect past environments. And viruses are a part of those environments.”
The group believes the viruses stemmed from plants or soil, not humans or animals, based on “the environment and the database of known viruses,” according to the press release.
Overall, researchers said the study can help scientists in the future in a few ways.
First, the researchers created a new “ultra-clean method” that doesn’t contaminate the viruses or microbes when analyzing them.
The method could aid future scientists in their explorations for signs of viruses and microbes in other extremely cold environments such as Mars or the moon, Matthew Sullivan, co-author of the study, said in the release.
“These are viruses that would have thrived in extreme environments,” Sullivan said. “These viruses have signatures of genes that help them infect cells in cold environments – just surreal genetic signatures for how a virus is able to survive in extreme conditions.
“These are not easy signatures to pull out,” he continued, “and the method that Zhi-Ping developed to decontaminate the cores and to study microbes and viruses in ice could help us search for these genetic sequences in other extreme icy environments – Mars, for example, the moon, or closer to home in Earth’s Atacama Desert.”
The glacier ice archives will also show researchers how viruses and microbes evolve over thousands of years. The ice cores used in their study were taken from the summit and plateau of the Guliya ice cap in western China.
Every year, the ice traps whatever is in the atmosphere, creating a preserved record scientists can analyze to understand the impact of “climate change, microbes, viruses and gases,” according to the release.
But as glaciers continue to rapidly melt due to climate change, these viruses will eventually be released into the environment.
It’s largely uncharted territory for scientists.
“We know very little about viruses and microbes in these extreme environments, and what is actually there,” Lonnie Thompson, senior author of the study, said in a statement. “The documentation and understanding of that is extremely important: How do bacteria and viruses respond to climate change? What happens when we go from an ice age to a warm period like we’re in now?”
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