Yaravirus: New Virus Discovered in Brazil Named After Mermaid Myth

(Photo : Stocksnap)

Another unknown virus was discovered in a lake located in Brazil. The scientists who discovered the virus named it after a mythical creature who were thought to have lured soldiers into drowning in water.

The Discovery of the Virus

The Yaravirus was named after Yara, a mythical mermaid. This virus had left many scientists shocked because of its uniqueness. The newly discovered virus was found out to be not related to any kind of virus already discovered by the world.

90% of the genes of the Yaravirus was found to be unique in the world. 

The discovery of the virus was during the time the Novel Coronavirus had cause outbreaks in the different infected nations. It was reported that the virus had already taken the lives of thousands. It now leaves more than 44,500 people infected with the virus. 

Scientists documented the Yaravirus in January after passing through Lake Pampulha. Lake Pampulh is an artificial lake situated in Belo Horizonte, a city in Brazil.

The scientists sequenced the genome of the virus to study its DNA. It was found out that the virus contains 74 genes. Only six of the total were recorded in literature. 

The other unidentified genes are called orphan genes. 

After searching through a database of more than 8,500 genetic material records, there were no clues that would help identify any close relations to the Yaravirus.

The research team was led by the Federal University of Mis Gerais in Brazil. They state that the Yaravirus extends the knowledge of the world about DNA viruses' diversity.

The Yaravirus was collected from a single-celled organism called an amoeba. The amoeba lives in damp regions of the world.

The scientists who studied Yaravirus believes that it is the first isolated case of an unidentified amoeba virus. 

A published study on the bioRxiv server stated that the Yaravirus has a new amoebal virus lineage that has a mysterious origin and phylogeny.

The authors of the published work stated that the majority of the identified amoeba viruses have shared collective and similar features. This had allowed scientists to classify them into a group of common evolutionary forms. 

The Threat of the Yaravirus to Humans

The threat of the Yaravirus to humankind is still unknown as of the moment. 

The primary findings of the virus revealed that it is non-transferable to humans. It was found out that it can only transfer from one amoeba to another. 

Discovery of New Viruses

From 2016 to 2019, discoveries in the different parts of the world total from 15,222 to 195,728.

The scientists who discovered the Yaravirus are not new to discovering new microorganisms. 

Two years ago, two of the scientists who discovered the Yaravirus had also made a discovery of a new virus called the Tupanvirus in a lake in Brazil. It was also named after a mythical character. 

The Tupanvirus is a bigger virus compared to the Yaravirus. It was similar to the Yaravirus which contained a majority of unique genes.

Another new virus, a famous one, is the 2020 Novel Coronavirus which had already transformed currently as a global epidemic.