Science Market Update

Resurrection of 700 Year Old Virus Just in Time for Halloween

Posted by David Larsen on Fri, Oct 31, 2014

Researchers have uncovered a pair of 700 year old viral sequences trapped in frozen caribou dung. Then they infected living plants with the DNA virus, what could go wrong? This discovery gives rise to an alarming possibility that global warming can bring other dead infectious viruses back to life. Sounds like the makings of a zombie apocalypse.

So the big question is, why would anyone do something so seemingly crazy? Scientists don’t know much about how viruses evolve and understanding the structure of ancient viruses would increase knowledge of virus evolution. However, scientists have sequenced only a small number of ancient viruses.

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Tags: 2014, Virology, Biotechnology Calendar, halloween

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