Global warming raises fears of a number of consequences, some of which are potentially dramatic. Among the scenarios mentioned, that of seeing pathogens being released into the atmosphere due to melting glaciers. And it is with this in mind that a discovery in a glacier on the Tibetan plateau is interesting.
Indeed, researchers who dissolved two ice cores have discovered, they say, 28 different and unknown groups of viruses, says Trust My Science, relaying an article by Vice. A key to try to identify successful viruses over time in different climates and environment.
“However, in the worst case, this melting ice could release pathogens in the environment “, write the researchers in a study not yet evaluated by their colleagues and sisters. But in this extreme case, knowledge of a maximum of viruses would be an asset.
Far from knowing all the viruses on earth
“The microbes differed considerably across the two ice cores, presumably representing very different weather conditions at the time of filing“, noted the scientists, after taking precautions during the analyzes.
Indeed, the two carrots having been taken in 1992 and in 2015, the external layers were contaminated by current bacteria, it was therefore necessary, through different methods, to scrape 1.5 cm of external layer in order to access uncontaminated ice, in a carefully sterile environment.
Finally, 28 unknown viruses have been discovered. “We are very far from sampling all the diversity of viruses on Earth,” analyzed for Vice Chantal Abergel researcher in environmental virology.
