Health & Medicine
The Evolutionary Roots of the Ebola Virus Uncovered in Fossil Study
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Oct 28, 2014 07:18 AM EDT
Scientists are taking a closer look at the evolutionary origins of Ebola. Now, they've found that filoviruses, a family to which Ebola belongs, are at least 16 to 23 million years old, which shows that this virus has been around a lot longer than expected.
"Filoviruses are far more ancient than previously thought," said Derek Taylor, one of the researchers, in a news release. "These things have been interacting with mammals for a long time, several million years."
In order to learn a bit more about filoviruses, the researchers examined viral "fossil genes," chunks of genetic material that animals and other organisms acquire from viruses during infection. They found remnants of filovirus-like genes in various rodents. One fossil gene in particular, called VP35, appeared in the same spot in the genomes of four different rodent species. This means that the material was most likely acquired in or before the Miocene Epoch, which is prior to when these animals evolved into distinct species.
"These rodents have billions of base pairs in their genomes, so the odds of a viral gene inserting itself at the same position in different species at different times are very small," said Taylor. "It's likely that the insertion was present in the common ancestor of these rodents."
What's more interesting is that the genetic material in the VP35 fossil was more closely related to Ebola than to another related virus, Marburg. This indicates that the lines leading to these viruses had already begun diverging from each other in the Miocene.
These findings are important for aiding disease prevention. For example, if a researcher were trying to create a single vaccine effective against both Ebola and Marburg, it would be helpful to note that their evolutionary lineages diverged so long ago.
"When we first started looking for reservoirs for Ebola, they were crashing through the rainforest, looking at everything-mammals, insects, other organisms," said Taylor. "The more we know about the evolution of filovirus-host interactions, the more we can learn about who the players might be in the system."
The findings are published in the journal PeerJ.
See Now:
NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
TagsEbola ©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
More on SCIENCEwr
First Posted: Oct 28, 2014 07:18 AM EDT
Scientists are taking a closer look at the evolutionary origins of Ebola. Now, they've found that filoviruses, a family to which Ebola belongs, are at least 16 to 23 million years old, which shows that this virus has been around a lot longer than expected.
"Filoviruses are far more ancient than previously thought," said Derek Taylor, one of the researchers, in a news release. "These things have been interacting with mammals for a long time, several million years."
In order to learn a bit more about filoviruses, the researchers examined viral "fossil genes," chunks of genetic material that animals and other organisms acquire from viruses during infection. They found remnants of filovirus-like genes in various rodents. One fossil gene in particular, called VP35, appeared in the same spot in the genomes of four different rodent species. This means that the material was most likely acquired in or before the Miocene Epoch, which is prior to when these animals evolved into distinct species.
"These rodents have billions of base pairs in their genomes, so the odds of a viral gene inserting itself at the same position in different species at different times are very small," said Taylor. "It's likely that the insertion was present in the common ancestor of these rodents."
What's more interesting is that the genetic material in the VP35 fossil was more closely related to Ebola than to another related virus, Marburg. This indicates that the lines leading to these viruses had already begun diverging from each other in the Miocene.
These findings are important for aiding disease prevention. For example, if a researcher were trying to create a single vaccine effective against both Ebola and Marburg, it would be helpful to note that their evolutionary lineages diverged so long ago.
"When we first started looking for reservoirs for Ebola, they were crashing through the rainforest, looking at everything-mammals, insects, other organisms," said Taylor. "The more we know about the evolution of filovirus-host interactions, the more we can learn about who the players might be in the system."
The findings are published in the journal PeerJ.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone