Yaravirus- Corona's New Mate?

In these tough times amidst the great outbreak , the word ‘virus’ is not much unfamiliar with the humankind. A virus is essentially a small piece of DNA or RNA inside a protein particle or capsid. The DNA or RNA code for the proteins by which the virus acts. Almost every part of the ecosystem on Earth is susceptible to viruses—animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, amoeba, pretty much everything.

    At present ,Corona virus is consistently engulfing in  all over the world as thousands of cases are coming everyday. Even the well off countries are not able to stand in this pandemic situation . Amidst this humdrum there is another development that happened MILES away that went unnoticed. Researchers in BRAZIL announced that they have discovered a NEW VIRUS, whose genome is entirely new to science. While the discovery puts to light how little we know about the earth, it also shows how much more research is required in order to understand the world around us.

The new discovery has been named YARAVIRUS (Yaravirus brasiliensis) after YARA, the water goddess from BRAZILIAN mythology. The virus was found in Lake Pampulha, an artificial lagoon in the city of Belo Horizonte. It was discovered by a team consisting two senior virologists Bernard La Scola from Aix-Marseille University in France, and Jônatas S. Abrahão from Brazil’s Federal University of Minas Gerais.

Yara is composed of small 80-nm size particles, so it cannot be classified as a giant virus. Giant viruses usually have capsids more than 200nm. What researchers have been able to confirm is that it is an amoebal virus with 90% genes being  unknown.

     After researchers analyzed the microbe's genome, they found that most of them had never been seen in any other viruses. They searched for the Yaravirus' gene signature in thousands of environmental genomic data but found no hint, "indicating how rare this virus is.

Though it is not known to infect human cells, we can say that most of them do not represent any threat for our health,"  Abrahão said. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't care about them. "Viruses are extremely important in  the environment," helping with nutrient recycling or controlling pests