Discovered the 'water god' virus, which has an unknown gene

When searching for viruses in an artificial lake in Brazil, scientists made unexpected discoveries.

An international team of researchers from Brazil, the United States and France carried out a project to investigate the virus infection of amoeba population in Lake Pampulha in Belo Horizonte (Brazil).

Besides the large number of virus strains, they suddenly found a much smaller sample. Upon further analysis, the scientists discovered that 90% of their genomes had never been discovered before .

The Yaravirus has 68 genes that have never been known to humans.(Photo: bioRxiv).

In an article published in the scientific journal bioRxiv, the authors analyzed in detail the new finding. The virus is named Yaravirus , after the Tupi-Guarani natives of Brazil.

According to research results, Yaravirus has only 6 genes ever recorded in the world scientific database, the rest are 68 brand new genes. This finding is notable because it was announced at a time when a new strain of the corona virus is creating a global pandemic of pneumonia. The disease, which comes from China's Wuhan city, infected 43,000 people and left more than 1,000 dead, as of February 11.

However, according to Futurism, scientists still often find new viruses. From 2016 to 2019, the number of viruses living in the ocean was recorded to increase from 15,222 to 195,728. In addition, most viruses only live on its host. There are only about 1,000 types that can infect humans.

Yaravirus appears only on amoeba. But even if it can be transmitted to humans, it is not necessarily a threat to us. In fact, some viruses make health even better.

Futurism believes that the new findings of scientists continue to broaden our understanding of viral infectious agents and its positive or negative role in the entire ecosystem on Earth.