Scientists discover ancient HERPES in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones found in a Russian cave… and they want to revive the virus
The oldest human viruses, including herpes, have been discovered in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones – and experts could soon be able to recreate them.
Researchers from Brazil’s Federal University of São Paulo identified remnants of the herpes viruses, which cause cold sores, the sexually transmitted papillomavirus and the adenovirus, also known as the common cold, in the DNA of two male Neanderthals found in a Russian cave.
Previous theories suggested that Neanderthals may have become extinct due to viruses and the latest study may be the first to provide evidence for this idea.
Now the team hopes to synthesize the viruses and infect human cells in a laboratory to see how they compare to their modern counterparts.
Researchers identified remnants of the herpes virus, papilloma virus and adenovirus in the DNA of Neanderthals who lived 50,000 years ago, making it the oldest human virus found.
“These Jurassic Park-like viruses could then be studied for their reproductive and pathogenic properties and compared with modern-day counterparts,” Marcelo Briones, the study’s lead author, said. NewScientist.
“I am skeptical that this can be achieved, given the lack of full understanding of how the viruses’ DNA is damaged and how the recovered pieces can be reconstructed into a complete viral genome,” he added.
‘The interaction between host and virus, especially in a completely different environment, is also something to take into account.’
The team found the remains of Neanderthals in Chagyrskaya Cave in Siberia in the Altai Mountains, which they used to sequence genome data from the ancient creatures.
The results determined that the remains of the viruses were not contracted by possible predators that fed on Neanderthals or by modern humans who might have handled the bones.
Adenovirus causes cold symptoms in modern humans and can cause infections in the tonsils, adenoids and other mucosal tissues, while they can develop genital warts and cancer from the sexually transmitted papillomavirus.
Researchers believe the herpes viruses (pictured) ‘may have been a major cause of the Neanderthal extinction’, but need additional testing to confirm findings
The study reported that researchers believe that “the herpes viruses in particular may have been a major cause of the Neanderthal extinctions,” but that they need to conduct additional tests to confirm the findings.
“Taken together, our data indicate that these viruses may represent viruses that really infected Neanderthals,” Briones said.
Briones said the findings were not surprising since people today are infected with about 10 diseases in their lifetime.
The remains of the Neanderthals were first discovered in 2022, along with nine others who all shared DNA, meaning they were related.
A daughter and her father were among the remains and he shared mitochondrial DNA with two men, showing they shared a female ancestor, possibly the same grandmother.
There were signs that the ages ranged from children and teenagers to adults and that they all died at the same time, but researchers did not know how they added that there were no signs of burial.
Researchers now hope that their new DNA discovery of the three serious diseases can finally shed light on what led to the death of the Neanderthals and what led to their extinction.