Science: Thousands of new viruses discovered! In diapers!!

A recent Nature Microbiology research paper reports the finding of ~10,000 previously unknown viruses inside the guts of human babies. Science Daily comments:
Babies tumble about with more than 200 previously unknown viral families within their intestines. This large number comes as a surprise to researchers, who closely studied the diapers of 647 Danish babies and made this mapping. These viruses most likely play an important role in protecting children from chronic diseases. 
Ninety percent of the viruses found by the researchers are bacterial viruses -- known as bacteriophages. These viruses have bacteria as their hosts and do not attack the children's own cells, meaning that they do not cause disease.  
The hypothesis is that bacteriophages primarily serve as allies. As Shiraz Shah points out, the entire field of research speaks to a huge global health problem:

"A lot of research suggests that the majority of chronic diseases that we're familiar with -- from arthritis to depression -- have an inflammatory component. That is, the immune system is not working as it ought to -- which might be because it wasn't trained properly. So, if we learn more about the role that bacteria and viruses play in a well-trained immune system, it can hopefully lead us to being able to avoid many of the chronic diseases that afflict so many people today."

 


In taxonomy, a Family is above the Genus and below the Order. New species are still commonly being found, and sometimes a new genus is discerned in the species data. It is less common to find a new Family and quite unusual to find a new Order or Class. 


D, K, P, C, O, F, G, S

The mnemonic I use to remember the taxonomy of life on Earth: Duh! Kan't Pass Class On Failing Grades, Sorry. There are other mnemonics for this, but I forget what they are. 🥴

Of course back in my youth when I had to know this, the Domain level of taxonomy didn't even exist. Taxonomy was much less settled than it is now. Now, DNA sequencing is routinely used to help sort biological relationships together. That didn't exist in until 1977, and it wasn't cheap, fast or easy until the late 1990s. 



By Germaine: The diaper whisperer 

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