Research: Microbes in melting ice can cause new pandemics

There is another reason why climate change carries risks. Can lead to melting of ancient ices in which they are “locked” microbeswhich for millions of years have not seen the light of Earth and which, if released, might cause new pandemics threatening to humanity, warns a new Chinese scientific research.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who made the relevant publication in the biotechnology journal “Nature Biotechnology,” according to Live Science, studied ice samples from 21 glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, a high-altitude region between the Himalayan mountain range in the south and Taklamakan desert to the north. The research revealed 968 previously unknown species of microbes, and analysis of their genomes showed that at least some of them have the potential to trigger new pandemics, should a rapid melting of the ice caps, due to rising temperatures due to climate change, release them. from their frozen “prison”.

It is the first time that the genome of microbial communities hidden inside ancient glaciers has been completely analyzed (genetic sequencing). The microbes found are mainly bacteria, but also archaebacteria, fungi, etc. 98% are completely unknown to scientists, while the great microbial biodiversity inside the ice surprised researchers.

The Chinese scientists they are not sure exactly how old some of these glacial microbes are. However, previous studies have shown that it is possible to revive microbes trapped at least 10,000 years ago. A previous 2020 study analyzed ice cores from a single Tibetan glacier and discovered 33 different groups of viruses within the ice, 28 of which had never been seen before.

The diversity of “frozen” microorganisms, combined with the increasing melting of glaciers due to climate change, increases the chances of potentially dangerous microbes – mainly bacteria – escaping and spreading unknown diseases on Earth, “leading to local epidemics or even pandemics.” , according to the researchers.There are already indications that some of these unknown bacteria may prove to be extremely dangerous to humans and beyond.

Even if ultimately these pathogenic bacteria do not survive for long after the freeing them from the glaciers them, they can still cause problems, according to the researchers, because the bacteria have the unique ability to exchange large sections of their DNA with other bacteria. So, even if the ice bacteria die shortly after escaping, they may have managed to pass on to other bacteria some pathogens hidden in their genetic material. This gene interaction between glacial ancient microbes and modern microbes “may turn out to be particularly dangerous,” the researchers pointed out.

The Tibetan Plateau may in the future prove to be the focus of future epidemics or pandemics, as its glaciers – after melting – supply fresh water to various large and small rivers, such as the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Ganges, etc., which provide water in the two most populous countries in the world, China and India. As shown by Covid-19, pandemics tend to emerge from areas with large populations.

But the problem is not limited to Asia, as more than 20,000 glaciers exist on Earth, covering more than 10% of the land surface. Each glacier is estimated to have its own unique microbial communities. Satellite images show that ice loss from most of the world’s glaciers has accelerated since 2000, increasing the risk of microbes leaking out and causing new pandemics somewhere on Earth.

RES-EMP

View the news feed and get the latest news.