Yellowstone hot spring is full of viruses

With a 370 fit diameter, Grand Prismatic hot spring at the Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park is the largest hot spring in the park and the third largest in the world.

Its temperature is close to boiling, varying from place to place between 145.4 and 188.6 degrees F (63 to 87 degrees C).

Its fanciful color is a blend of effects of physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Green is the optical effect, orange and brown is the color of the bacteria that live in the temperature zone near the boiling point. These observed bacterial mats have long been the object of research of many previous studies.

An NSF funded study conducted by Tom Schoenfeld and David Mead of the Lucigen Group investigated microorganisms and viruses that are difficult to detect but live in crystal clear waters.

Yellowstone hot spring is full of virus.(Photo: flickr)

Although it was impossible to observe these microorganisms with the naked eye or even a standard light telescope, Schoenfeld and Mead collected viruses from the water columns of the springs. hot nearby. Using advanced molecular biology techniques, they analyzed their genetic characteristics.

Analysis shows that every 1 teaspoon of water taken from a stream contains hundreds of thousands of viruses classified into thousands of different types of viruses .

The number of microbial cells in the water is similar though the microorganisms are generally less diverse.

The genetic diversity encodes a source of invaluable biological molecules that helps microorganisms adapt and function normally at high temperatures. Lucigen Group is exploiting them for use in genetic analysis, disease detection and bioenergy production.