Allyssa Hutchings Biology 1010 T-TH 10:00 AM Article Review April 8, 2014

This paper will be discussing a popular press article as well as the scientific article it was based upon. The popular press article, Scientists dig up giant virus more than 30,000 years old in Siberia, was published by CNN World while the scientific article, Thirty-thousand-year-old distant relative of giant icosahedral DNA viruses with a pandoravirus morphology was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). Both articles discuss the topic of an old and extremely large virus, known as Pithovirus sibericum, which was discovered after the thawing of frozen soil in Siberia. Research is being conducted partly because of how abnormally large the virus is, and also because scientists are worried that other viruses which are capable of infecting humans may be hiding in other remote areas of the world and could eventually reveal themselves, causing serious illness. According to CNN Worlds article on this topic, it is known that Pithovirus infects amoebas and is not capable of infecting humans or animals. The worrisome hypothesis that is discussed in this article is that the emergence of other serious viruses capable of infecting humans is a completely realistic scenario. The original research article goes into great detail about the physical attributes of the virus. It also compares and contrasts the giant virus with another giant virus, Pandoravirus, which scientists initially hypothesized to be in the same family due to its amphora shape. The PNAS article also discussed a second hypotheses: that there is an abundance of giant viruses that have not yet been discovered. The article states, Our discovery of the giant Pandoraviruses hinted that an entire world of viruses remained

to be unraveled. The simultaneous isolation of two pandoravirus family members from two remote locations suggested that they were not rare (Abergel, Claverie, & Legendre, 2014). These two articles which are written on the same topic and cover the same scientific information have both similarities and differences. The CNN World article did not even discuss the possibility of the virus belonging to the same family as Pandoravirus. Both articles hypothesized that viruses trapped in permafrost may become a threat to public health, although the scientific article included that the cause for this predicted threat may be global warming while the popular press article said nothing about global warming. Both articles also mention smallpox as a possible virus to reappear, since it has a replication process similar to Pithovirus. The review article concluded that viruses that can affect humans or animals may also be preserved in the frozen earth and that the reemergence of other serious viruses is a potential and very realistic problem. The author also concluded that giant viruses contain far more genes than a common virus, giving the example that AIDS or influenza contain about 10 genes while Pithovivrus has about 500 genes. Mullen also stated that although this gene looks massive in comparison to an average virus, it is still miniscule relative to the Pandoravirus which contains about 2,500 genes. The original article discusses very similar conclusions. The first conclusion which was reviewed addressed the hypotheses of Pithovirus belonging to the same family as Pandoravirus due to their amphora shapes. After studying the two viruses protein composition, genomes, and replication strategies this hypotheses was ruled out. This scientific article also came to the same ending result as the review article: that viruses are capable of surviving in permafrost and it is entirely possible that viruses which have been catastrophic to humans in the past could reemerge. Scientists stated, Although Pithovirus is the prototype of a new family, its genome structure and replication cycle are similar to that of other large eukaryotic DNA viruses, many of which are human or animal pathogens (Abergel, Claverie, & Legendre, 2014). The article then went on to state that their results supported the

prospect that viral pathogens might be released from old permafrost layers through various means such as mining, drilling, or climate change. Both articles came to the same conclusion in regards to the potential danger of other viruses emerging from the frozen earth, although the scientific article states that global warming is a direct cause for these viruses to emerge while the popular press article said nothing about climate change being a cause. Also, both the review article as well as the original confidently recited that viruses are entirely capable of surviving for long periods of time in the appropriate conditions and that it is not impossible for viruses thought to be long eradicated to reappear. This article was very interesting to read and study. It caught my attention as I was choosing an article because I did not know that giant viruses existed. I also did not know it was possible for viruses to survive for extended periods of time and it is eye opening to discover that illnesses which are believed to be extinct are still a potential threat.

Works Cited

Abergel, Chantal, Jean-Michel Claverie, and Mattieu Legendre. "Thirty-thousand-year-old distant relative of giant icosahedral DNA viruses with a pandoravirus morphology." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2014): 1-6. PNAS. Web. 4 Apr. 2014.

Mullen, Jethro. "Scientists dig up giant virus more than 30,000 years old in Siberia." CNN. Cable News Network, 6 Mar. 2014. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/world/europe/siberia-giant-virusdiscovered/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews>.