Scientists have warned that the 'crossbreeding' between different viruses may lead to the emergence of a completely new, altered virus with potentially more threatening characteristics. Such viruses may even trigger another COVID-19-like pandemic, said the virologists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). This natural evolution of viruses occurs as different virus species create new pathogens inside vertebrates.
“Using a new computer-assisted analysis method, we discovered 40 previously unknown nidoviruses in various vertebrates from fish to rodents, including 13 coronaviruses,” said DKFZ group leader Stefan Seitz.
The unexplored world of viruses
According to researchers, most of the viruses are still unknown to humans as scientific studies have focused more on viruses that cause diseases in humans, domestic animals and crops.
But, with the new AI-assisted method, scientists were able to peruse 300,000 data sets and could derive insightful data in one go.
What are Nidoviruses?
Nidoviruses consist of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and bear common characteristics that distinguish them from all other RNA viruses and document their relationship.
The researchers found that when host animals are infected with different viruses at the same time, a new virus may emerge altogether as a result of a recombination of viral