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Posted: 28th November 2016

Study reveals almost 1,500 new species of virus
Researchers identified the new viruses in 220 invertebrate species, including insects and spiders.
Researchers analyse RNA of over 200 invertebrates

Almost 1,500 new species of virus have been discovered by a team of scientists from China and Australia.

Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers identified the new viruses in 220 invertebrate species, including insects and spiders.

The team also found that, for millions of years, viruses have been switching genetic material in order to create new species.

Speaking to BBC News, Professor Elodie Ghedin from New York University, who was not directly involved with the study, said: "This is an extraordinary study providing the largest virus discovery to date.

“It will no doubt remodel our view of the virus world and redraw virus phylogeny.

"This is what happens when you combine a bold and brute force approach with the right technology and the right set of eyes."

In the study, the team collected 220 species of land and water-dwelling invertebrates living in China.

The researchers extracted the invertebrate’s RNA and - using next-generation sequencing - worked-out the sequence of six trillion letters present in the invertebrate RNA "libraries”.

When the researchers analysed the data, they discovered they had found almost 1,500 new species of virus - many of which were so distinct they did not fit easily into existing virus families.

The team hope their finding could lead to virus discovery in a host of other species. One scientist told BBC News that further analysis could yield additional virus species ‘unlike any that we have seen before’. 



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