'The hope is we're not caught off guard' again, B.C. researcher says of discovery of 9 new coronavirus species
A team of researchers led by a British Columbia university has uncovered several new species of coronavirus, some of which were found in unexpected places such as animal dung.
The discoveries, outlined in a news release Wednesday from the University of British Columbia, were made by a former UBC post-doctoral research fellow, who led an international team in an analysis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequencing data.rib
Artem Babaian led the study of 20 million gigabytes of gene sequence data, dubbed the Serratus Project. This data came from 5.7 million biological samples, UBC said.
"We’re entering a new era of understanding the genetic and spatial diversity of viruses in nature, and how a wide variety of animals interface with these viruses," Babaian said in the news release.
"The hope is we’re not caught off guard if something like SARS-CoV-2—the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19— emerges again … The real goal is these infections are recognized so early that they never become pandemics."
The samples collected worldwide over a 13-year period included dung from several animals, as well as other sources, according to a summary from the school of the research published in the scientific journal Nature this week.
The research team phased the collection as coming from "every continent and ocean, and all kingdoms of life."
With the help of a "ridiculously powerful" supercomputer built by UBC and Amazon Web Services, the team said it found nearly 10 times more RNA viruses than were previously known.
In total, it said, the project found 132,000 RNA viruses. Only 15,000 were known before the Serratus Project.
The team also found nine new species of coronaviruses during study, which took 11 days and cost about $24,000.
As for what was learned, there were some challenges, the team wrote in the paper published in the journal.
"An important limitation for these analyses is that the nucleic acid reads do not prove that viral infection has occurred in the nominal host species. For example, we identified five libraries in which a porcine, avian, or bat coronavirus was found in plant samples," the team said.
The hope is this research, and the database created by the Serratus Project, will help "pave the way to rapidly identify virus spillover into humans," UBC said. The database can also be used to identify viruses impacting livestock, crops and endangered species, according to the school.
An example the 32-year-old gave was of a patient with an unexplained fever. He said that patient's blood could be sequenced, and the virus causing the fever could be compared to the Serratus Project database of existing viruses.
"You can now search through the database in about two minutes, and connect that virus to, say, a camel in sub-Saharan Africa sampled in 2012," Babaian said.
He called the research, which was sketched out on a napkin and started as a "fun" side project, the "most exciting scientific period of my life."
"There are two types of fun. Type 1 is smiling and fun. Type 2 is when you’re miserable while doing it but the memory shines, like rock climbing. In many ways Serratus is Type 2 fun. You just kind of have to believe it’s going to work out."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.