Climate warming may lead to the contact of as yet inactive viruses in the Arctic with new environments and
Scientists from Canada figured out how climate changecould influence the spread of viruses by examining samples from the Arctic landscape of Lake Hazen. The team took samples of the soil, which in the summer becomes a channel for glacial melt water, and also from the bottom of the lake.
With the help of cables and a snowmobile, they raised the lakesediment from a depth of 300 m and subjected to DNA and RNA sequencing. “This allowed us to know which viruses are in the environment and which potential hosts are also present,” said Stephan Aris-Brosou, assistant professor of biology at the University of Ottawa.
But to find out how likelyIn order for them to pass from one host to another, the team needed to study the equivalent pedigree of each virus and host. Genealogies indicate that the virus evolved along with its host, and the differences speak of its transmission. And if the virus has already changed its host once, then most likely it will do it again.
The authors of the study published in the journalProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, warn that they do not predict the spread of viruses or pandemics. They also warn that more work needs to be done to figure out how big the difference between viruses and hosts needs to be to pose a serious risk of spread.
But they argue that a warming climate will further increase such risks, with potential hosts moving to previously inhospitable regions.
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