As much as scientists understand the world around us, one thing that has eluded them to some degree is the nature of viruses. A new study has exposed findings that will hep researchers better understand the nature of viruses, as well as their history and evolution.
According to Headlines & Global News, typically researchers looked at retroviruses and T-cell leukemia viruses. However, for this particular study, the researchers looked at a very specific group of viruses that are not as common as things like retroviruses called ERV-Fc.
“Viruses have been with us for billions of years, and exist everywhere that life is found,” said Welkin Johnson of Boston College who was a co-author on the study.
Researchers were able to examine ancient “fossils” of ERV-Fc. The results of these examinations were able to identify certain patterns of evolutionary change. The interesting thing that they found was that viruses overtime swapped genes with another, indicating that genetic recombinations might have played a significant role in the evolution of the viruses.
“Unfortunately, viruses do not leave fossils behind, meaning we know very little about how they originate and evolve. Over the course of millions of years, however, viral genetic sequences accumulate in the DNA genomes of living organisms, including humans, and can serve as molecular ‘fossils’ for exploring the natural history of viruses and their hosts,” said William E. Diehl, professor at the University of Massachusetts, lead author of the study.