Wave after wave, before the epidemic was completely eliminated, a new virus found in an artificial lake in Brazil turned out to be 90% genetically new.
That is to say, none of the viruses we know of are similar to its sequence, which scientists call "orphan genes."
Because it was found in the artificial lake Pampaha in Brazil, scientists named the virus after the brazilian mythical spring fairy Yala, called Yala virus.
So what is the danger of the Yala virus, and what are the consequences for the world?
Arrogant virus
Unknown virus
The scientists compared the DNA of yala virus with currently known viruses and found that it is a completely new virus species that has not been recorded by humans in the history of medicine.
Raya virus is a small virus with a diameter of only about 80 nanometers.
Its DNA sequence controls a total of 26 proteins, of which only one protein has appeared in other viruses, and the remaining 25 are new proteins.
Yala virus was discovered
It is uncertain what harm the Raya virus is to the human body, because it is so strange that we cannot find its next relatives.
So, what kind of virus is it? What are the consequences?
It is unknown to humans. And that's exactly what makes the Raya virus most terrifying.
We all know that a virus is a special structure of life, which is different from the traditional sense of the cell.
The virus has no cellular structure, but is very rough, just a protein shell wrapped around the DNA or RNA molecules inside, especially like a hurry to pinch out.
A virus with a simple structure
It is with such an extremely unreasonable and simple structure that the virus has run through the entire history of biological evolution, and it is like a vine wrapped around the tree of biological evolution, lingering.
Although viruses do not have a cellular structure, we can still classify viruses according to their genetic sequence and microscopic shape, such as coronaviruses, baculoviruses, umbelliferous viruses, and so on.
For yala virus, it is now a black household in the virus world and does not have its own household registration, so people do not know how to divide it.
If the virus is harmful to the human body, then humans cannot find even a reference.
The unknown brings fear, which is why scientists say that the Yala virus is terrible. I am afraid that it will be a time bomb buried in the human world.
Common virus species
The importance of similar viruses
Why is it that a virus, if it has its own kind, is a good thing for humans?
Because similar viruses have most of the same genetic sequence, there are only slight differences.
It is this little difference that can cause the two to infect a completely different object.
For example, a virus is harmful to the human body, but another virus similar to it is less harmful to the human body, so we can use the relatively small kind of virus research to find out the pathogenic principle.
A family of viruses
The only virus in human history that has been overcome, the smallpox virus, started with its "close relative" cowpox virus, and was eventually eliminated by humans.
Cowpox virus is an infectious disease prevalent in cattle and can also infect humans, but humans are more likely to heal themselves than smallpox viruses.
A surgeon at the time stumbled upon the fact that whenever the smallpox virus broke out, the ranch milkers were the safest group, and their incidence was much lower than that of people in other occupations.
After research, it was found that these milkers had been infected with cowpox.
Dr. Jenner, who invented cowpox vaccination
So the way to overcome the smallpox virus, at the beginning, was to inoculate the cowpox virus on the human body, let people infect and heal, and magically have a certain antibody to the smallpox virus.
Because the vaccinia virus and the smallpox virus have a great degree of similarity in DNA, the antibodies produced by the body after the cowpox infection are common to the same type of virus.
That is, it recognizes the smallpox virus and mobilizes the immune system to destroy it.
vaccination
A vaccine for smallpox was later developed using cowpox, and in 1980 it was declared that the smallpox virus was completely gone in humans.
Only the United States and Russia currently retain samples of smallpox virus in the world.
The more viruses a virus is similar to it, the faster vaccine research will be in humans.
For Yala virus, 90% of its genes are never encountered by humans, and if there is really any pathogenic sequence in it, then humans can only be helpless.
Biochemical research
The origin of the virus
The discovery of the Latina virus has thrown humanity, who is experiencing a global outbreak, into a panic again.
Throughout the history of life, viruses have set off an existential crisis more than once in the long river of life, making people very curious, how did the virus evolve?
Many people see that the life structure of the virus is very primitive, and they think that the viruses that exist today are the remnants of ancient times.
In fact, according to the discoveries of biologists, most viruses are far less ancient than humans think.
All kinds of viruses
Some viruses have even grown cellular structures, and they are the kind of ancient bacteria that have lost most of their cellular material, leaving only DNA and proteins.
It can be seen that the origin of the virus is very complicated, and it is probably not possible to infer its origin by using known biological evolution.
Take the Yala virus, which appears in an artificial lake in Brazil and has not been found in other natural environments in Brazil.
So is it an old virus that mutated into the new one it is now?
Discover the artificial lake of Brazil where the Yala virus was discovered
People think this is less likely, because the old virus mutates in the sequence of the original gene.
Just as the so-called ever-changing is inseparable, the virus will not make 90% of its genes strange.
Therefore, some scientists believe that the birth of yala virus may be the self-destruction of a certain ancient fungus or bacteria, which have lost most of the structure in their cells in the environment of artificial lakes.
Archaea under the microscope
However, some people have raised objections, the diameter of the Yala virus is only about 80 nanometers, which is much smaller than many cellular structure organisms, that is, there are not so small bacteria and archaea in nature.
Without this size, no matter how much they sink, they will not become the Yala virus they are today. So scientists are confused about how the Yala virus came about and why it suddenly appeared in artificial lakes.
I don't know the hukou of the Yala virus or the origin of the Yala virus, it floats like a ghost on the shore of an artificial lake, and at the same time it is like a ghost in people's hearts.
Viruses and bacteria and archaea
Viral infection
Viruses enter the host body through infection, using the material in the host cell to synthesize their own genetic material and proteins.
When the virus destroys human cells beyond a certain limit, human beings will be life-threatening.
Viral infections are not all bad, as this is a rare cross-species genetic exchange in nature.
The virus does things roughly, and like its structure of life, when it uses the material in the host cell to synthesize genes and proteins, it will leave a small part of its own genes in the host cell.
Viruses use host cells to synthesize genetic material
This could lead to a gene swapping with the host's gene, giving an organism a completely new gene sequence.
For example, the birth of a mammal, which was confirmed to be a viral infection about 200 million years ago, gave the mammalian ancestors a piece of DNA that prevented the mother's immune cells from attacking the fetus.
Mammals also initially lay eggs, but the egg structure of mammals is somewhat backward compared to other amniotic animals.
The viral infection completely upended the way mammals reproduce, laying the foundation for subsequent prosperity.
Mammals of the age of the dinosaurs
In addition to this viral infection 200 million years ago, humans were infected by a virus in later evolution, and since then the human placenta has undergone qualitative changes.
People often wonder why it hurts as other animals to give birth as it does for humans to give birth, and it is a very bloody scene for human mothers to give birth. The reason is that the human placenta has a lot of capillaries on the surface, densely adhering to the mother's body.
To know that we humans are premature babies, this is the price of upright walking, how to develop the fetus to the extreme in a limited time, this viral infection helps to solve this problem.
The human placenta has capillaries
Dense capillaries increase the speed and efficiency of nutrient exchange between the fetus and the mother, allowing the fetus to develop vital organs of the brain and body within 10 months.
However, the price paid is that the mother needs to strip the placenta from the body during childbirth, and these dense capillaries will cause serious physical harm to the mother.
Pain during human childbirth
This kind of viral infection is a blessing for mankind and a curse for mankind.