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Research published today in Nature has found that many of the viruses infecting us today have ancient evolutionary histories that date back to the first vertebrates and perhaps the first animals in existence.
[...] The researchers discovered 214 novel RNA viruses (where the genomic material is RNA rather than DNA) in apparently healthy reptiles, amphibians, lungfish, ray-finned fish, cartilaginous fish and jawless fish.
"This study reveals some groups of virus have been in existence for the entire evolutionary history of the vertebrates -- it transforms our understanding of virus evolution," said Professor Eddie Holmes, of the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases & Biosecurity at the University of Sydney.
"For the first time we can definitely show that RNA viruses are many millions of years old, and have been in existence since the first vertebrates existed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 06 2018, @04:45AM
Orphan viruses (ones that cause no apparent disease) are nothing new. RNA viruses are nothing new.
From the original abstract, what the researchers did was compare the gene sequences of these different viruses to graph their evolution, based on the presumption that they evolved along side the individual species they live in.
Not totally rock solid, but interesting.