They examined genetic sequences extracted from tiny aquatic organisms known as plankton, which are common hosts for RNA viruses. They found the sequence belonging to the RNA virus by looking for an ancient gene called RdRp, which is found in all RNA viruses.
The study, published Thursday April 7, 2022 in the journal Science the researchers identified more than 44,000 sequences with this gene. In all, they identified about 5,500 new RNA virus species belonging to five existing phyla.
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These include the five newly proposed phyla by the researchers, namely Taraviricota, Pomiviricota, Paraxenoviricota, Wamoviricota and Arctiviricota. Virus species in the phylum Taraviricota are very abundant in temperate and tropical waters. While viruses in the phylum Arctiviricota are abundant in the Arctic Ocean.
The diversity of the newly discovered viruses is so great that researchers have proposed doubling the number of taxonomic groups needed to classify RNA viruses, from five existing phyla to 10 phyla. A phylum is a broad classification in biology just under “kingdom.”
“There’s so much new diversity here – and entire phyla [baru]Taraviricota, are found throughout the oceans, which indicates that they are ecologically important,” said Matthew Sullivan, a professor of microbiology at The Ohio State University.
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Sullivan said, studies of RNA viruses are usually focused on what causes disease. This is because some of the well-known RNA viruses that cause influenza, Ebola, and the corona virus that causes COVID-19.
“But this is just a small piece of RNA virus on Earth. “We want to study it systematically on a very large scale and explore environments that have never been seen in depth,” Sullivan said.
(wib)
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