Viruses Have Shaped Life on Earth as We Know It, Here’s How

There are approximately ten nonillion viruses on our planet, but that's no reason to panic. Viruses are integral for life on Earth, and as scientists discover thousands of new ones, they're learning more about the outsized role they play.

The current pandemic has highlighted how important it is for us to know what viruses may be lurking out there. But while we keep one wary eye out for those potentially harmful ones, we’re also uncovering just how much viruses have actually shaped humans—and the rest of life on Earth too—in some really surprising ways.

‘Virus hunters’, as they’re known, are scientists who search the hidden corners of the world for viruses that are poised to become human pathogens. In many cases, they’re searching for Disease X.

That’s not the name of an actual illness—it's what we call the hypothetical infection that could cause the next big global disease. The idea is to find it before it finds us. But other researchers are delving into what ELSE viruses are doing on our planet besides making people sick. And the main tool they’re using to do that...is metagenomics.

#metagenomics #viruses #science #seeker #elements

Read More:
Why the world needs viruses to function
“If all viruses suddenly disappeared, the world would be a wonderful place for about a day and a half, and then we’d all die – that’s the bottom line,” says Tony Goldberg, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “All the essential things they do in the world far outweigh the bad things.”

Beyond coronavirus: the virus discoveries transforming biology
There are just 9,110 named species listed by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), but that’s obviously a pitiful fraction of the total. In part, that’s because officially classifying a virus used to require scientists to culture a virus in its host or host cells — a time-consuming if not impossible process.

Scientists identify more than 140,000 virus species in the human gut
Dr Alexandre Almeida, Postdoctoral Fellow at EMBL-EBI and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: "It's important to remember that not all viruses are harmful, but represent an integral component of the gut ecosystem.
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00:00 Not just bad viruses
00:22 Virus hunters
01:11: Metagenomics
02:59 Viruses everywhere
03:17 The ocean’s energy web
03:37 Viruses shaped life on Earth

[alphamet]

So far I’ve enjoyed every seeker video I’ve watched. And I watched a LOT….

Keep up the great work!

[mrhickman]

Every 5-10 words in your description of metagenomics raised another question I wanted answered. Another video digging in a bit more on the "how" of each step?

[IanGrams]

The fact an ERV is what lead to the development of the placenta is easily one of the most interesting things I've learned over the last year. Another that's up there is that there's a gene called ARC which encodes a protein essential to neuroplasticity and it assembles into virus-like capsids that can carry mRNA between neurons. It's pretty fantastic that genetic leftovers from viral infections have been repurposed to be beneficial.

[pearpenguin]

A great book that covers some of the same info from this video is "The Tangled Tree" by David Quammen

[nzugruf]

How to monitor plant viruses in a decentralized manner? 1/Attract vectors (aphids, thrips, ..) with pheromones & insect specific narrow-band LED light 2/ concentrate viral material 3/ analysis of metagenomic information in the samples 4/ upload to decentralized blockchain 5/ alert farmers if threshold of quarantine crop pathogenic virus is exceeded.

[drmoss]

Surprisingly, most people don't know about the placenta. I think it's a super cool demonstration of why basically everything is so important to the ecosystem.

[patryn]

yes, viruses are one of the most important factors in earth's life evolution, to crusade to end sickness is the greatest folly in humanity's history.

[naiduvga]

it was actually predicted to happen more than once. but was totally ignored as usual.

[edseltallbert]

What a well put together video with an outstanding speaker. I had questions and as the video progressed they were answered. Well done.

[rubenk]

I would go as far as saying that the whole reason of bio-diversity is because of viruses. I wouldn't be surprised if in the end viruses would even be the origin of live that accidentally came together and got affected by other viruses to trigger the diversity tree. Would that be a possibility?

[guilhermejung]

Wow, nice video, I'm currently working with environmental virology, gonna print a virus hunter badge LOL

[amartya]

0:55 I assume it is "this many individual species of virus". Isn't it?

[ThreeNoTrump_]

Question: What is the connection between natural selection and our interference? For example, using immune

[DaBlondDude]

Interesting, though I'm wondering about the "probably"; what's that based off of?

[SabeerAbdulla]

_One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it_ Master Oogway

Imagine if these virus hunters are the first to get infected with disease X bcos they went out looking for it.

[techbyamanuelg]

Hey seeker please upload videos more often

[SuperSkullz]

could you do another video of flow batteries, namely the zinc-bromine batteries

[kristensorensen]

Great piece of knowledge. It is tragic that the pandemic was created by scientists screwing with gain of function research that is just way too dangerous!!

[lorenzodicapo]

Finally... something we can use against the zombies

[samuelbartik]

That background music is a little disruptive for me