15,000-year-old virus was found in Tibet's glacier ice

Scientists studying glacial ice have discovered viruses that are nearly 15,000 years old in two ice samples collected on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China

This discovery, published today in the journal Microbiome, can help scientists understand how viruses have evolved over the centuries

Zhong Zhiping, the first author of the study and a researcher at the Ohio State University Bird Center for Polar and Climate Research, said: "These glaciers are gradually formed.

The researchers analyzed ice cores obtained from the Guliya Ice Cap in western China in 2015

Researchers have determined the age of this piece of ice core by combining tradition and new technology.

When they analyzed ice, they discovered the genetic codes of 33 viruses

"These viruses can thrive in extreme environments," said Matthew Sullivan, co-author of the study, a professor of microbiology at Ohio State University and director of the Ohio State University Microbiome Science Center

Viruses have no common, universal genes, so naming a new virus—and trying to find its place in known viruses— involves multiple steps

The comparison of these databases shows that the four viruses in the core of the Guria Ice Cap have been identified before, and they come from the virus family that typically infect bacteria

The researchers’ analysis revealed that, based on the environment and the database of known viruses, these viruses may have originated from soil or plants, rather than animals or humans

Research on glacier viruses is relatively new: only two previous studies have found viruses in ancient glacier ice

Thompson said: "We don't know much about the viruses and microorganisms in these extreme environments and what is there

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