In a significant breakthrough, scientists have identified previously unknown viruses with pandemic potential using a novel computer-assisted method. Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research have unveiled a trove of 40 new nidoviruses, including 13 coronaviruses, marking a quantum leap in virus knowledge.
The pioneering study, published in PLoS Pathogens, applied high-performance computing to mine vast amounts of vertebrate genetic data stored in scientific databases. The focus was on nidoviruses, an RNA virus group that includes coronaviruses. The discovery that viruses frequently exchange genetic material was a highlight, suggesting that viral “game changers” capable of igniting pandemics may emerge from this process.
The researchers, led by group leader Stefan Seitz, leveraged their deep mining approach to uncover these nidoviruses from various vertebrates, from fish to rodents. This method enables systematic searches for variants potentially hazardous to humans and could be instrumental in tracking down viruses that, unnoticed so far, nest in the human body and increase cancer risks.
The study’s findings are stirring, particularly given the recent global impact of coronaviruses. “Using a new computer-assisted analysis method, we discovered 40 previously unknown nidoviruses,” reported Stefan Seitz, reflecting on the scale of the research enabled by the team’s advanced computational tools.
The research team revealed that the nidoviruses they identified in fish frequently exchange genetic material across species. This recombination can lead to new viruses with altered properties, which may increase infectiousness or allow viruses to switch hosts. Such changes have dramatic implications, as the coronavirus pandemic has shown.
One of the study’s significant conclusions is that viruses with new properties can appear at any time and may become a massive threat. This is based on the evidence that after gene exchange among nidoviruses, the spike protein, which the viruses use to dock onto their host cells, often changes. First author Chris Lauber indicated the significance of this finding by showing family tree analyses that reveal the potential for host jumps.
With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center stands as Germany’s largest biomedical research institute, dedicated to identifying cancer risk factors, understanding cancer progression, and developing prevention strategies. The center’s systematic analysis of cancer patients for viruses by utilizing High Performance Computing (HPC) demonstrates the powerful potential of this new method in preventive health care.
Relevant articles:
– New viruses that could cause epidemics on the horizon, ScienceDaily
– Emerging Viruses Loom on Horizon, Mirage News
– Deep mining of the Sequence Read Archive reveals major genetic innovations in coronaviruses and other nidoviruses of aquatic vertebrates, PLOS
– Re-Emerging COVID-19: Controversy of Its Zoonotic Origin, Risks of Severity of Reinfection and Management, National Institutes of Health (NIH) (.gov)