Scientists Discover Mysterious Virus in Brazil With No Known Genes They Can Identify

[Judi Lynn]

PETER DOCKRILL10 FEB 2020

Scientists have identified an enigmatic virus whose genome seems to be almost entirely new to science, populated by unfamiliar genes that have never before been documented in viral research.

The so-called Yaravirus, named after Yara – or Iara, a water-queen figure in Brazilian mythology – was recovered from Lake Pampulha, an artificial lake in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte.

While Yaravirus (Yaravirus brasiliensis) may be no supernatural siren, the virus could prove to be just as mysterious as the water nymph of legend.

That's because the virus constitutes "a new lineage of amoebal virus with a puzzling origin and phylogeny," the research team explains in a new pre-print paper about the discovery.

Two of the senior members of that team – virologists Bernard La Scola from Aix-Marseille University in France, and Jônatas S. Abrahão from Brazil's Federal University of Minas Gerais – ought to know what they're talking about.

Two years ago, the pair helped to discover another water-dwelling viral novelty: Tupanvirus, a giant virus found in extreme aquatic habitats.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-virus-discovered-in-brazil-has-no-known-genes-scientists-can-identify?perpetual=yes&limitstart=1

[mr_lebowski]

1. Trippy ...

[Javaman]

2. is this how the zombie apocalypse starts? nt

[Judi Lynn]

3. 'Puzzling' Virus Found in Brazil Has Genetic Material Not Seen in Anything Else

Ed Cara
2 hours ago

Scientists in Brazil say they’ve made a mysterious discovery. They claim to have found a virus made of genetic material never before seen elsewhere. But you likely have nothing to fear from this virus: It seems to only hunt amoebas.

The find is detailed in a paper released last month on the preprint website bioRxiv. Research showcased on bioRxiv hasn’t yet gone through peer review, and the data on the virus’s genetic structure, or genome, hasn’t been made public yet. This doesn’t mean the findings aren’t legitimate (nor does something being peer reviewed mean it’s definitely “true”), it just means a little more skepticism is warranted upfront.

According to the paper, the DNA-based virus was found in amoebas living in the muddy waters of an artificial lake in the town of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, called Pampulha. The early name given to the virus—Yaravirus brasiliensis—is a reference to Yara, an important mythical figure among the indigenous tribes that once resided in Brazil, the authors wrote.

They were unable to find any likely relatives to Yaravirus after searching publicly available databases of viruses. And when they dug deeper, they found that more than 90 percent of its genes had never been documented before or had any connections to other known genes. Genes with no known evolutionary history are called ORFan genes in microbiology (pronounced orphan), potentially making Yaravirus an almost entirely orphan microbe.

More:
https://gizmodo.com/puzzling-virus-found-in-brazil-has-genetic-material-not-1841613092