Viruses and bacteria are the oldest species on the earth, and so far they are the most widely distributed and most abundant species in the world. It can be said that they are constantly affecting and reshaping the earth's lithosphere, hydrosphere and and biosphere. Some viruses and bacteria, in the process of spreading and reproduction, will have serious impacts on different plants and animals, including humans. Historically, the culprits that caused large-scale global epidemic diseases were these viruses and bacteria that were invisible with the naked eye and were extremely difficult to prevent.
Ancient viruses and bacteria "reappear in the sunshine"
In the long evolution process of the earth, some viruses and bacteria have been "sealed" in the Antarctic, the Arctic and the mountains, some of which are permanent glaciers. Among them, those highly adaptable viruses and bacteria do not die after being "sealed", but are dormant, that is, temporarily stopping the corresponding physiological activities. If they are released at a certain time, some of them will still fully recover, reactivate in the surrounding environment, and drift to a wider area with the current of water and atmospheric circulation, posing a potential threat to the earth's ecosystem.
You must have seen reports on the melting of permafrost in Siberia region before. As global warming continues and aggravates, the surface of the frozen soil, which was originally in a frozen state, began to melt, and some areas have collapsed, forming "sink pits". While the state of these permafrost areas has undergone fundamental changes, some ancient biological remains have been revealed.
. Through relevant monitoring, many ancient microorganisms also appeared. After these microorganisms were released, some of the individuals became active again. For a long time, scientists have been very worried about the consequences of global warming, which are these ancient viruses and bacteria.
In addition to the permafrost area, glaciers mainly distributed in the poles and alpine areas have also experienced similar problems in recent years. Especially in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau area located in southwestern my country, there are a large number of high-altitude glaciers. In recent years, due to the influence of global warming, permanent glaciers in some areas have also melted one after another. Some areas have even gradually evolved from the previous state of being covered with ice and snow to the growth of mosses and other green plants. The "greening" of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has deeply affected the local natural ecosystem and climate environment.
The newly discovered paleomic organism in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau glacier
In January 2020, a team specializing in glacier ice core discovered 33 different virus groups in Qinghai-Tibet, of which 28 were never seen before.
After that, a research team from of the Chinese Academy of Sciences collected ice core samples from 21 glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and found 968 microorganisms. The team then sequenced DNA of microorganisms locked in the ice and created a huge microbial genome database. They named it the Tibetan glacier genome and gene catalog. These microorganisms mainly include bacteria, algae, archaea and fungi. 98% of the species were the first discovery of humans, which was far beyond the expectations of scientists.
After preliminary research, scientists judged that the age of these microorganisms may date back to 10,000 years ago. Many batches of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have been found to contain a large number of ancient microbial communities, which shows that under such extreme environments (such as low temperatures, high levels of solar radiation, periodic freeze-thaw cycles, and insufficient nutrient sources, these paleomic microbial groups can still survive "teniful". In alpine glaciers, there must be more species that have not been discovered by us.
potential virulence factor
Through further research, scientists found that 27,000 potential virulence factors have been identified in the microbial directory discovered this time. These factors can help bacteria and viruses invade potential host cells. Of which about 10,000 virulence factors have not been discovered before, so we will not be able to know the degree of harm of these factors in a short period of time.
If there is no continued aggravation of global warming, then the chances of these ancient microorganisms to "reappear" will be very slim, or it will be greatly delayed. The current situation is not optimistic. In 2021, a study using glacier satellite images found that since the new century, all glaciers on the earth have shown signs of accelerated loss. Areas like the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with a large number of glaciers have changed particularly significantly, which makes the ancient microbial community unique to the glaciers have a greater chance and faster rate to be released, thereby escaping anywhere on the earth.
According to scientists, even if these potentially pathogenic bacteria may not survive for a long time after escaping from the glacier, they will still cause a series of problems. For example, most bacteria have a special ability, that is, the ability to exchange some DNA substances with other types of bacteria. Therefore, even if the bacteria that escape from the glacier die in a short period of time, they can still pass some virulence factors to other bacteria, that is, some phenomenon similar to "transmission of martial arts" between ancient microorganisms and modern microorganisms, which is difficult for us humans to monitor and prevent.
If global warming continues to aggravate, it may not take a hundred years to make most of the alpine glaciers like the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau melt. At that time, a large number of ancient bacteria will reappear in the earth's biosphere, and the impact will be very elusive and will have potentially huge impacts. What worries scientists even more is that these ancient microorganisms will most likely reshape the existing Earth microbial community and reshape their impact on Biosphere , including humans.
This discovery by Chinese scientists once again presents the impact of global climate change issues in front of mankind from a new perspective. How to deeply understand this potential impact and risks is the next issue that scientists focus on and solve. For us general public, it is undoubtedly a warning that the earth is no longer the same earth under the influence of human activities. How to achieve harmonious coexistence between man and nature requires everyone to seriously reflect and everyone needs to do something.
