Mind-blowing Discoveries About Viruses and Their Relationship With Us
Summary
TLDRThis video delves into the surprising and complex world of viruses, revealing recent discoveries that challenge our understanding of these microscopic organisms. It explores how certain viruses can protect plants during harsh conditions, how bacteriophages can enhance human cell metabolism, and the existence of 'viral satellites' that compete with other viruses. The video also discusses the potential dangers of ancient 'zombie viruses' reawakening due to climate change and the intriguing fact that space travel can reactivate dormant viruses. These findings highlight the diverse and often beneficial roles viruses play in the ecosystem and their potential impact on human health.
Takeaways
- πΏ **Plant-Virus Symbiosis**: Some viruses, like the poty virus, can switch from harming to helping plants during stressful conditions like drought, by altering gene expression and potentially increasing survival rates.
- π¦ **Bacteriophages and Mammals**: Bacteriophages, which infect bacteria, can also interact with mammalian cells in unexpected ways, such as increasing cell metabolism and promoting growth, similar to vitamins.
- π¬ **Evolutionary Adaptations**: Viruses and bacteria co-evolve, with bacteria developing strategies like viscous substances to deter viruses, and viruses evolving longer tails to penetrate these defenses, especially in extreme environments like hot springs.
- 𧬠**Satellite Viruses**: Certain viruses can enter cells and remain dormant, waiting for another virus to infect the same cell, and then hijack its replication machinery to reproduce, effectively acting as a virus of a virus.
- π **Giant Viruses**: Giant viruses, like the Medusa virus, have complex replication processes and genomes that suggest they use host cells as energy factories, and their discovery challenges traditional views on the simplicity of viruses.
- π **Space and Viral Reactivation**: Dormant viruses, such as herpes, can reactivate in space, indicating that space travel may not be suitable for humans and that Earth's environment is crucial for our health.
- π§ **Zombie Viruses**: Ancient viruses, potentially thousands of years old, can remain active in permafrost and may become infectious again as the Arctic warms, posing potential risks to modern life.
- π **Virus Diversity**: The Yara virus, a giant virus with a largely unknown genome, highlights the vast diversity and unknown aspects of viral life that remain to be discovered and studied.
- π¦ **Virus as Food**: Some marine organisms, like sponges, have evolved to consume viruses as a part of their diet, showcasing the complex relationships between viruses and other life forms.
- π **Ongoing Research**: The discoveries mentioned are just the beginning, and ongoing research is needed to fully understand the implications of these findings and the role of viruses in our world.
- π **Positive Viral Impacts**: The script emphasizes that viruses are not always detrimental, as they can have surprisingly positive effects on life, challenging the traditional narrative of viruses as solely harmful entities.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the video?
-The video focuses on exploring the complex and often surprising interactions of viruses with life on Earth, highlighting recent discoveries that challenge traditional views of viruses as solely harmful entities.
How do some viruses help plants survive harsh conditions like drought?
-Some viruses, such as the poty virus, can switch from being pathogenic to beneficial for plants under stress. They do this by altering certain genes to help the plant conserve water and adjust its circadian rhythm, thereby increasing the plant's chance of survival during drought.
What is the significance of bacteriophages in relation to human health?
-Bacteriophages, which infect and replicate inside bacteria, can have a positive impact on human health. They can increase cell metabolism, strengthen cells, and regulate positive feedback loops, acting similarly to vitamins and promoting growth and resilience in human cells.
How do some viruses adapt to environmental changes?
-Viruses can adapt to environmental changes by evolving new strategies and shapes. For instance, the 'Rapunzel bacteriophage' has evolved an unusually long tail to puncture bacteria with a viscous substance, allowing it to survive in harsh conditions like hot springs.
What are viral satellites and how do they function?
-Viral satellites are a strategy evolved by some viruses to compete for cellular resources. They enter a cell, integrate their genes, and remain dormant until another virus tries to infect the same cell. They then hijack the cellular machinery meant for the other virus, effectively blocking its replication.
What is unique about the Medusa virus and its replication process?
-The Medusa virus is unique because it replicates in a way that resembles more complex eukaryotic cells. It produces separate parts within the host cell using different genes and releases various particles that must recombine outside the cell to form a new Medusa virus.
How do giant viruses differ from typical viruses in terms of size and genetic content?
-Giant viruses are significantly larger than typical viruses, often containing more genes. Some of these viruses, like the Yara virus, have genomes that include many proteins never seen before in any organism, highlighting the vast diversity and complexity of life that is yet to be explored.
What is the concern with ancient viruses being released from permafrost due to climate change?
-The concern is that ancient viruses, potentially thousands of years old, may become active again as permafrost thaws. These viruses could infect modern life forms, and since they are so old, there may be no immunity to them, posing a potential threat to both wildlife and human populations.
How do some viruses behave in space?
-In space, dormant viruses such as the herpes virus can reactivate. This has been observed in astronauts, where herpes infections have reawakened, suggesting that space travel may not be conducive to human health due to the potential for viral reactivation.
What is the role of viruses in the ocean ecosystem?
-Viruses play a significant role in the ocean ecosystem by controlling bacterial populations. Some marine organisms, like sponges, have even adapted to consume viruses directly, with a typical sponge capable of consuming 98% of viruses it encounters.
What does the study of viruses teach us about the complexity of life?
-The study of viruses, especially the discovery of giant viruses and their unique replication processes, highlights the vast complexity and diversity of life. It shows that there is still much to learn about the evolutionary relationships between different organisms and the potential roles viruses play in shaping life on Earth.
Outlines
π¦ The Surprising Role of Viruses in Nature
This paragraph discusses the complex and often positive relationship between viruses and life on Earth. It highlights the discovery that certain viruses, like the poty virus affecting plants, can switch from being harmful to beneficial under stressful conditions like drought. The paragraph also touches on the fact that viruses contribute to human DNA and play a role in human reproduction. Furthermore, it introduces the concept of viruses acting like vitamins, enhancing cell growth and resilience, and the potential implications of these findings for both wild plants and humans.
πΏ Viruses and the Coevolution with Bacteria
The focus of this paragraph is on bacteriophages, viruses that infect and replicate inside bacteria, which are among the most diverse and common entities on Earth. It discusses the discovery that T4 bacterial phages can be internalized by mammalian cells, enhancing cell metabolism and growth rather than causing harm. The paragraph also delves into the complex strategies viruses employ to enter cells, such as the Rapunzel bacteriophage with an unusually long tail for penetrating bacterial defenses. The concept of viral satellites is introduced, explaining how they can hijack a cell's machinery to block other viruses from replicating, highlighting the ongoing evolutionary arms race between viruses and bacteria.
π Giant Viruses and Their Unusual Characteristics
This paragraph explores the fascinating world of giant viruses, which are significantly larger and more complex than typical viruses. It describes the unique replication process of the Medusa virus, which assembles itself outside the host cell from separate particles. The paragraph also mentions the discovery of extremely large viruses with genomes larger than some bacteria, suggesting they may bridge the gap between bacteria and viral organisms. The Yara virus is highlighted for its mysterious nature, containing mostly unknown genes, emphasizing the vast amount of undiscovered life and the infancy of modern biology.
π Space, Zombies, and the Future of Virology
The final paragraph discusses the potential dangers of ancient 'zombie viruses' being revived due to climate change, as evidenced by the 2016 anthrax outbreak from permafrost. It also touches on the reactivation of dormant viruses like herpes in space, suggesting that humans may not be well-adapted to long-term space travel. The paragraph concludes with the intriguing fact that certain marine organisms, such as sponges, can consume and neutralize viruses, offering a glimpse into the diverse and complex interactions between viruses and other life forms on our planet.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Viruses
π‘Bacteriophages
π‘Co-evolution
π‘Giant Viruses
π‘Zombie Viruses
π‘Space and Viral Reactivation
π‘Viral Satellites
π‘CRISPR
π‘Yara Virus
π‘Sponges
Highlights
The video explores surprising discoveries about viruses that challenge our understanding and show a more complex relationship between viruses and life.
Viruses, though simple and not technically life, have a significant impact on all life on Earth, including humans who are 8% virus in DNA content.
Some viruses help plants survive tough conditions like drought by altering their genes, thus showing a positive role for viruses in plant survival.
Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, can be beneficial and are more common than any other life form on Earth.
Bacteriophages can increase human cell metabolism and act like vitamins, making our cells stronger and more resilient.
The study of bacteriophages reveals complex strategies and shapes, including the 'Rapunzel bacteriophage' with an unusually long tail.
Some viruses have evolved to not infect or harm cells but instead wait for other viruses to enter the cell and then hijack the replication process.
Giant viruses, like the Medusa virus, have complex replication processes and contain genes associated with metabolism, suggesting they use cells as energy factories.
The discovery of the Yara virus, a giant virus with mostly unknown genes, highlights the vast amount of undiscovered life forms.
Ancient viruses, referred to as 'zombie viruses', can reawaken from permafrost due to climate change, potentially carrying diseases.
Experiments have shown that ancient bacteriophages can be revived even after thousands of years, raising concerns about the potential dangers of these viruses.
Space travel may reactivate dormant viruses like herpes in astronauts, suggesting that humans may not be adapted to live in space.
Some marine animals, such as sponges, have developed ways to consume and neutralize viruses, showcasing a unique interaction in the ecosystem.
The study of viruses and their interactions with life on Earth is ongoing, with new discoveries continually reshaping our understanding of these microscopic organisms.
Transcripts
so in this video I wanted to explore the
absolutely insane world of viruses but
not the types of viruses we usually get
scared about not the types of viruses
that normally cause pandemics we're
actually going to be discussing viruses
or discoveries about viruses that are
somewhat surprising and will hopefully
help you see these very mysterious
organisms in a very different light
because despite being relatively simple
and obviously being the tiniest
organisms on the entire plan planet with
some scientists even suggesting that
they're technically not even life and
instead represent something entirely
different in reality all life on planet
Earth has a really complex relationship
with viruses of all sorts and it's not
always negative as a matter of fact it's
usually kind of positive one of the
older videos in the description even
talks about how technically you and I
are approximately 8% virus in terms of
DNA contents with these strange
organisms also technically responsible
for human human reproduction you can
learn more about this in the description
but in this video we're going to discuss
some of the other very unusual
discoveries from the last few months
focusing on things we really didn't know
about or things that surprised everyone
and so h on full person this is Anton
let's discuss viruses and their
interaction with various life on the
planet once again focusing on several
topics such as viruses that seem to
protect us viruses with some really
extreme morphology and shape various
types of giant viruses that are even
more complex than certain bacteria and a
few viruses inside of us that
potentially act like vitamins as in they
literally make us grow stronger just
through sheer interaction with certain
cells and well let's start with one of
the more unusual discoveries from the
last few months so there's this type of
a virus that's mostly responsible for
infecting various plants known as poty
virus these are usually responsible for
harming plants such as for example
various cabbages broccoli cauliflowers
and even potatoes often making them turn
somewhat black and naturally eventually
causing their demise or so the
scientists thought at first but one of
the recent studies you can find in the
description surprisingly discovered
something entirely different when some
of these plants experience very tough
conditions such as for example drought
during drought or other conditions when
plants experience a lot of stress it was
discovered that some of these viruses
actually switch from killing the plant
to suddenly helping it and it did so by
switching off certain genes and
preventing the plant from losing water
while also affecting its circadian clock
or the way it responds to light and so
plants infected with this virus had a
much higher chance up to about 25% to
survive the drought in other words some
of the viruses inside these plants
dramatically increase the survival rate
just by changing certain genes they even
increase the amount of production of
various antioxidants boosting the health
of the plant in the process which is a
super important Discovery because it
implies that environmental conditions
dramatically change the effects of
viruses on plants and possibly even
animal life helping them switch from
being a pathogen to actually being
helpful and obviously because planet
Earth might experience more drought in
the future this is a super important
Discovery although interestingly this
mostly had an effect on wild plants and
not so much effect on various cultivated
plants or the ones usually used in
farming implying of course that the
viral coevolution is super important for
survival of various species so basically
by Sheltering a plant from viruses and
protecting them we're sort of making
them much weaker and a lot less likely
to survive any potential environmental
disaster but you and I are not
vegetables we're not cabbages so does
this actually apply to us as well well
at the moment it doesn't look that way
but something else was discovered in
regards to mammals or I guess humans as
well and here this is mostly in regards
to what's known as bacterio fages and
extremely important type of a virus that
only infects and replicates inside
bacteria representing some of the most
common and most diverse entities on the
entire planet as a matter of fact there
are most likely more bacterial fases on
Earth than anything else for example in
the oceans they seem to be the most
prominent organisms as a matter of fact
they can also technically be used as
antibiotics because they only attack
bacteria and nothing else here's for
example a beautiful electron micrograph
of several bacteria fages attacking a
bacteria and as you probably aware we do
have lots of bacteria inside of us as
well technically more bacterial cells
than your physical body cells and so
technically it would not be incorrect to
assume that we're basically real estate
for various bacteria lots of them tend
to live inside and outside of us and
thrive in different conditions in our
bodies but it just so happens that in
our stomachs and inside human gut
millions and millions years of evolution
resulted in a very strange relationship
between these unusual viruses and
mamalian cells now inside of you right
now there are probably at least a
thousand trillion figures inside your
Gat or basically a quadrillion of these
unusual viruses and they're mostly
preoccupied trying to attack the
bacteria that's living inside there as
well but this new study that just came
out a few weeks ago discovered something
nobody expected these unusual T4
bacterial fages can sometimes be also
internalized by mamalian cells as well
accumulating inside certain structures
known as macropinosomes but instead of
causing the mamalian cell to explode or
to be infected it does something
entirely different they actually seem to
dramatically increase cell metabolism
reorganizing the cell making it stronger
and even regulating a lot of positive
feedback loops literally acting as a
typical vitamin they make our cells grow
stronger and become more resilient and
so for reasons that we still don't
understand instead of being infected by
these viruses our cells seem to accept
bacteria phases and use them as an
important resource promoting growth and
Metabolism which at the moment is very
difficult to understand but that's
exactly what this paper discovers it's
basically once again a result of
coevolution for millions and millions of
years which somehow resulted in
ourselves learning how to use these
bacterial fages and as I mentioned there
are quite a lot of them inside of us to
make ourselves much stronger and much
more resilient which of course implies
that bacterial phase therapy that's been
used for hundreds of years might be a
really important source for human health
and so these are some really important
positive discoveries but when it comes
to bacteria figes because of the sheer
numbers of these anural viruses things
get complex really quickly for example
even though in a typical textbook this
is kind of what the bacterial is usually
depicted as quite a lot of bacterial
fages use other strategies and other
shapes to try to enter the cell for
example right here you're actually
looking at something that has a very
long t tail because in this case some
bacterial Fes have a very large
compartment and a tail attached to a
spiky protein that usually contains
their DNA and though normally these
tailes differ a little bit in terms of
length and style recently the scientist
discovered something super strange they
refer to this as a Rapunzel bacterio
bacterio whose stale is at least 10
times longer than usual up to 1
micrometer in length and so because of
this long tail it's now known as the
Rapunzel bacteria of Ag and obviously
serves only one purpose to puncture the
bacteria and to try to enter inside the
cell in order to then inject all of the
RNA or DNA but why exactly is the tail
so long well normally a lot of bacteria
will actually contain a kind of a
viscous substance around them in order
to protect themselves from various
viruses and so once again through Co
Evolution they evolved longer and longer
Tales because I guess some bacteria were
just getting a little bit slimy moreover
it looks like these types of viruses and
these types of bacteria seem to mostly
reside inside Hot Springs so these are
some of the toughest bacteria on the
planet making these viruses also super
super tough in this case Rapunzel virus
seem to actually survive very hot
temperatures for a very long time
potentially making this one of the most
resilient viruses out there but exactly
how it's able to survive so long is
currently unknown but some viruses
adapted in different ways actually not
all viruses are technically bad for us
as I mentioned a lot of them Co to help
us quite a lot and normally in a typical
textbook a typical viral infection looks
something like this basically you have a
virus attached to the cell it then sort
of hijacks the Machinery inside the cell
to produce more and more copies which
then leads to the major release of
viruses in a process this is of course
extremely simplified and quite a lot of
viruses out there found even easier and
better strategies as a matter of fact
some viruses evolve to not make anyone
sick and not infect cells at all and
instead just enter the cell and kind of
wait for things to happen and the reason
this evolved is once again visible in
this picture there's a lot of
competition out there sometimes viruses
are competing for the same cell so what
do you actually do if there's a virus
inside the cell already and the
Machinery from the cell is already being
used well certain bacterial phages
evolved something else entirely they
evolved a concept known as viral
satellites and the way all of this works
is even more intriguing some of these
viruses will enter the cell and then
some how find a way to stay dormant
sometimes they'll even integrate inside
the chromosome inserting their own genes
inside but they do this for one simple
purpose they're waiting for someone else
they're actually waiting for another
virus to come into the cell in order to
then hijack all the Machinery that the
virus was going to use to start
replicating inside the cell blocking the
other virus and interestingly a lot of
bacteria out there seem to have a huge
number of these satellite helper systems
inside of their genes already
in some sense constantly competing for
the use of bacterial machinery and
evolving new ways to continuously
exploit each other as a matter of fact
the famous genetic modification tool
known as crisper the tool that we now
use for genetic modification is very
likely the result of this unusual
relationship and Once Upon a Time was
one of these satellite viruses but
interestingly some bacterial fages found
an even more unusual way to compete or I
guess to some extent a much lazier way
instead of entering the cell and stay
dormant they literally do this this is
an image of one of these bacterio fages
attached to the one with a much longer
tail and so this is the first ever
satellite that seems to actually not
stay inside the cell but instead evolved
a very short appendage to grab onto the
neck of another virus and then hijack
the Machinery inside the cell once the
bacteria Fage attaches to the cell here
the larger virus is referred to as the
mine flare and a smaller virus is now
called mini flare and so they have a
very unusual almost like a vampire
relationship where the larger virus once
it finds a cell is going to find itself
very disappointed when not only does it
have to carry someone around itself it
also doesn't get to reproduce because
the satellite virus is going to take
over and reproduce instead and so in
some sense this is actually a virus of a
virus and as you can probably imagine
trying to understand how these virus
viruses work and how to maybe use them
to protect ourselves from actual
pathogens would be super important for
future study now currently this is only
for bacteria and bacterio fages but it's
quite likely something similar exists in
a lot of other viruses we tend to think
of as dangerous so definitely a pretty
cool vampire virus but not the strangest
virus out there because some of the
strangest viruses are probably giant
viruses viruses that are normally at
least 10 times bigger than a normal
smaller virus and that will often
contain a lot of genes and in some of
the recent studies some of the
researchers were actually kind of
surprised to discover that a lot of
these giant viruses contain genes
associated with metabolism suggesting
that they infect cells and then use them
as a kind of a massive energy Factory
for reasons still not really understood
but all of these giant viruses are
normally found in the ocean and one of
the stranger viruses discovered in the
ocean recently is what's known as Medusa
virus a virus whose replication process
and whose genome seem to be so different
from anything else as a matter of fact
the way it reproduces seems to be
actually similar to much more complex
eukariotic cells here's actually a
picture of some of these giant viruses
inside a typical amoeba and so unlike
other viruses these viruses tend to
produce completely separate parts by
using several different genes inside of
them releasing a variety of different
particles to the outside of the cell
which then have to recombine into an
actual Medusa virus in other words
inside the cell they tend to produce
individual Lego blocks which are then
released to the outside and have to
recombine to recreate new virus this is
extremely different from anything else
and involves a lot of complexity we've
never seen before in this case they
actually produce four separate types of
particles which were then found outside
of the cell and which then when
connecting to each other once again
recreate a new Medusa virus and actually
one of the reasons this virus is called
Medusa virus is because it does
something very unique to various types
of amoeba After The Infection these
amoeba Harden forming a hard Stone WX
structure at first first and then
exploding afterwards I guess borrowing
from the Greek mythology and from the
infamous Medusa on top of this
scientists also discovered ridiculously
complex giant viruses nobody thought
were possible here we're talking about
the actual genome and the amount of
proteins on the inside to date the
largest discovered so far contains over
700,000 base pairs or essentially
representing genome that's about 15
times larger than usual it's actually
even larger than certain bacteria and so
these types of of giant viruses
evolutionary speaking May finally bridge
the gap between bacteria and viral
organisms these huge fages were only
discovered relatively recently so it's
not entirely clear how they evolved just
yet but they're definitely one of the
more intriguing discoveries and it's
also not clear what most of their genes
do but it's a very surprising and a very
intriguing Discovery I'm sure we'll find
out more once there is more analysis and
once there are more studies and then
there was a discovery of this Yara virus
another Giant virus but in this case
unusual for a different reason when the
researchers sequenced its DNA they
actually discovered that only six genes
in the DNA were known to us with about
70 proteins never seen before anywhere
in any life making Yara virus
essentially the least known virus to us
containing genes nobody has ever seen
before in any type of an organism and
this is not to show you that this is
some kind of an alien organism from
another planet instead is to show you
that there is just a a huge amount of
Life out there we still haven't
discovered and haven't analyzed life
that possesses lineage no biologist has
ever explored and this y virus reminds
us of that it reminds us that Modern
Biology is still in its infancy there's
still so much stuff out there that we
haven't found here's another picture of
this virus in this case attacking an
amoeba but the thing is we might be
discovering more and more viruses for I
guess one simple reason and this is a
More unnerving Concept known as the
zombie vir viruses a lot of ancient
viruses that might have been buried in
for example permafrost are now slowly
coming to the surface as the temperature
in the Arctic is changing weakening some
of the layers in the Perma Frost and
naturally some of this permafrost
contains ancient viruses that might have
infected ancient life or not even that
ancient we're talking about life from
just a few thousand years ago and though
it might sound like some kind of a doom
and glom and maybe something we
shouldn't be worrying about there was a
case in 2016 that made made us worry you
can read about this in one of the
studies in a description but in essence
in 2016 a bunch of reindeer greasing in
parts of Siberia specifically in the
location you see right here managed to
catch antrax when some of the ancient
spores from basilis and tris resurfaced
during one of the hotter Summers very
likely coming from some kind of a old
animal carcass that the reindeer
approached and so approximately 2,000
reindeer and several dozen humans were
infected by Anthrax as a result of this
luckily this was contained pretty
quickly but this definitely made
everyone worry and so in the last year
some scientists were actually trying to
figure out okay let just say it happens
with a different virus would it still be
infectious and would it have a potential
to maybe become super dangerous
specifically if this virus is like
thousands of years old and so several
scientists from several different teams
in the last decade or so performed
various experiments trying to revive
various bacteria fages discovered in
Pera Frost and so far they've been able
to successfully revive all of them even
viruses as old as 50,000 years old
suggesting that these ancient viruses
are still quite active and can still
infect a lot of different cells Even
after spending thousands of years inside
eyes and so at this point we can only
hope that no dangerous super deadly
virus is hiding in some of the size and
though this kind of sounds a little bit
scary and maybe a little bit unnerving
especially with a name like zombie virus
at this point we just have to be really
careful but we don't really know if this
applies to more complex viruses
especially because most of this so far
has only been done with simple bacteria
phases so we don't really know if this
applies to everything but we might find
out one day and I guess last but maybe
not least we also once again discover
that space travel is not so good for us
turns out that when you live in space a
lot of dormant viruses such as the
herpes virus tend to reawaken as a
matter of fact as the study discovered
most astronauts infected with the herpes
virus had herpes reactivate in space and
this is also probably true of other
viruses hiding inside our bodies which
once again means that we're probably not
really meant to live in space and we
probably should consider taking care of
planet Earth just a little bit better oh
wait one more interesting Discovery
turns out that because there are so many
viruses in the oceans certain animals
discovered the way to actually eat them
and that includes organisms like crabs
different types of anemones and more
interestingly sponges apparently a
typical sponge can easily kill 98% of
viruses by eating them directly I'm not
sure what we're going to do with this
information just yet but cool sponges
eat viruses so yeah lots and lots of
intriguing new discoveries about viruses
that we basically never knew about up
until a few months ago but as with
previous studies this is just the first
step we'll come back and talk more about
this in some of the future videos until
then thank you for watching subscribe
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