Sign In
Learn bits
Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

02/12/22 22:03 PM IST

Scientists revive approximately 50,000-year-old ‘zombie virus’ from frozen lake in Russia

In News 
  • European researchers have raised concerns of yet another pandemic after resurrecting a 48,500-year-old ‘zombie virus’ from a frozen lake in Russia.
Zombie Virus 
  • 13 new pathogens have been characterized, what are termed ‘Zombie Viruses’, which remained infectious despite spending many millennia trapped in the frozen ground.
  • The virus emerged due to the thawing of permafrost as the global temperature is rising.
  • The new strain is one of 13 viruses, each of which possesses its own genome.
  • The oldest, dubbed Pandoravirus yedoma after the mythological character Pandora, was 48,500 years old, a record age for a frozen virus returning to a state where it has the potential to infect other organisms.
  • This has broken the previous record held by a 30,000-year-old virus discovered by the same team in Siberia in 2013.
Causes 
  • One-quarter of the Northern hemisphere is underlain by permanently frozen ground, referred to as permafrost.
  • Due to climate warming, irreversibly thawing permafrost is releasing organic matter frozen for up to a million years, most of which decomposes into carbon dioxide and methane, further enhancing the greenhouse effect.
  • Part of this organic matter also consists of revived cellular microbes (prokaryotes, unicellular eukaryotes) as well as viruses that remained dormant since prehistoric times.
Source- DTE 

More Related Current Affairs View All

10 Jan

Rural landowners in Delhi want repeal of Sections 33 and 81 of Delhi Land Reforms Act

'Both sections dealing with the use and sale of agricultural land have come under the spotlight ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections.' This can only be done by the Central gove

Read More

10 Jan

Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas

'Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 18th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas  in Bhubaneswar.' The event is held once every two years to “honour the cont

Read More

10 Jan

Deciphering the Indus script

'Recently, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced a $1-million prize for experts or organisations in the event of their success in deciphering the scripts of the Indus Val

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps