The coronavirus, a type of RNA virus. Photo: Fusion Medical Animation/Unsplash
A recent research study discovered 5,500 new species of RNA viruses in the ocean. Throughout the course of the study, tens of thousands of water samples were collected from around the world and were analyzed to see if they contained RNA viruses.
It is widely known that RNA plays a role in human infectious diseases but relatively little is known about RNA on a broader scope. Traditional RNA studies have focused on RNA viruses that causes disease—examples include influenza, Ebola, and the coronavirus. According to the study’s lead author Matthew Sullivan, this group of RNA viruses accounts for just a small portion of all RNA viruses on Earth.
“RNA viruses are clearly important in our world, but we usually only study a tiny slice of them—the few hundred that harm humans, plants and animals,” Sullivan said in a recent statement. “We wanted to systematically study them on a very big scale and explore an environment no one had looked at deeply, and we got lucky because virtually every species was new, and many were really new.”
Through a combination of machine-learning analyses and traditional evolutionary trees, the research team discovered 5,500 new RNA virus species. Researchers found viruses that fit into all five existing RNA virus phyla. But due to the massive amount of diversity they discovered, they determined five new phyla are needed to accurately classify their findings.
“There’s so much new diversity here—and an entire phylum, the Taraviricota, were found all over the oceans, which suggests they’re ecologically important,” said lead author Matthew Sullivan, professor of microbiology at The Ohio State University.
In addition to the five new RNA phyla, researchers are also proposing at least 11 new Orthornavirae classes of RNA viruses. The team of researchers is working on a proposal for the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses to formalize the new suggested phyla and classes.
According to Ahmed Zayed, the co-first author on the study and a research scientist in microbiology at Ohio State, the new discoveries on RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) could lead to a better understanding of early life and evolution on our planet.
“RdRp is supposed to be one of the most ancient genes—it existed before there was a need for DNA,” Zayed told Science Daily. “So we’re not just tracing the origins of viruses, but also tracing the origins of life.”
