More than 5,000 new viruses have been discovered in the oceans

An international team of researchers has made a major discovery after identifying about 5,500 viruses in the oceans that were previously unknown to scientists.

Published April 7 in ScienceThe study presents the results of research based, among other things, on the analysis of 35,000 water samples taken from oceans around the world during the voyages of the Tara Oceans, a French sailboat dedicated to scientific research and environmental defense. The challenges of these campaigns: Understanding the role RNA virus in marine ecosystems.

Aside from their role in human infectious diseases, we understand relatively little about RNA viruses worldwide. Recently, the discovery curve has been exciting and revealed an unexpected diversity,” the researchers explained in the journal Science.

The National Center for Scientific Research also addressed this news in a tweet: “From samples taken In oceans around the world during the Tara Oceans expeditions, an international team has identified 5,500 new species of RNA virus»

# communication | From samples taken from oceans around the world during expeditions #Tara OceansAn international team has identified 5,500 new types of viruses #ARN. #CNRSocean

➡️ https://t.co/HEhkWSZBBQ pic.twitter.com/S0ciyMNBvQ

– CNRS (CNRS) April 8, 2022

This great discovery had also forced them to create new levels of ranking, and the current five ranks were no longer enough to rank these newcomers.

basic viruses

According to research teams, there are approximately one billion RNA viruses in the oceans. It would make it possible to regulate marine ecosystems by preventing, for example, one organism taking over other organisms by infecting them.

Another important work of these viruses, they can “poison” the carbon in the oceans, opening the way for new studies.

Thus, researchers can better understand global warming and its impact on the planet.