A new study shows that there are more than 5,000 new virus species in the ocean.
The researchers analyzed tens of thousands of water samples from around the globe, looking forRNA viruses, or viruses that useRNA as their genetic material. The novel coronaviruses is a type of virus. The authors said that these viruses are under studied compared with DNA viruses.
The researchers want to double the number of groups needed to classify the new viruses from the existing five to 10. The phylum is a broad classification in biology.
The Taraviricota, a new phylum, was found all over the oceans, which suggests they are important.
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According to Sullivan, studies of the viruses have focused on those that cause diseases. The coronaviruses that causes COVID-19 are among the well-known RNA viruses. Sullivan said these are just a small slice of the viruses on Earth.
Sullivan said that they wanted to study them on a large scale and explore an environment that no one had looked at.
The researchers analyzed 35,000 water samples from 121 locations in the world's oceans. The researchers are part of a global project to study the impact of climate change on the ocean.
The researchers said that plankton is a common host for RNA viruses. They looked for an ancient gene called RdRp that is absent from other viruses and cells, and found it in the same sequence of RNA viruses. They found over 44,000 sequences with this gene.
The RdRp gene is billions of years old and has evolved many times. It was difficult for the researchers to figure out the evolutionary relationship between the genes because they went so far back. The researchers used machine learning to organize them.
The researchers named the new species Taraviricota, Pomiviricota, Paraxenoviricota, Wamoviricota and Arctivirico.
In The Conversation, the researchers wrote that the Taraviricota and Arctiviricota phylums were both abundant in the tropics.
The authors said that understanding how the RdRp gene differed over time could lead to a better understanding of how early life evolved on Earth.
RdRp is one of the most ancient genes, and it existed before there was a need for DNA, according to the statement.
It was originally published on Live Science.
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