Newly Discovered Gut Virus Could Play A Role In Obesity, Diabetes

July 28, 2014

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

A previously undetected virus, discovered in intestinal samples, could influence the behavior of common gut bacteria and could even play a role in conditions such as diabetes and obesity, according to a new Nature Communications study.

According to BBC News health reporter Smitha Mundasad, scientists from San Diego State University were exploring genetic material found in intestinal samples when they discovered a new type of bacteriophage which they have dubbed the crAssphage virus.

The virus, the study authors explained, is present in more than half of the worlds population and it was apparently discovered by accident. CrAssphage, as it turns out, was first detected when SDSU bioinformatics professor Robert A. Edwards discovered an unusual cluster of viral DNA while studying the samples of 12 individuals.

The viral DNA strand was approximately 97,000 base pairs long, and was common to each of the samples. Edwards and his associates checked their discovery against a comprehensive listing of known viruses, but found no match. They then screened for it across the National Institute of Healths Human Microbiome Project (HMP) and Argonne National Laboratorys MG-RAST databases, and again found it in several human fecal samples.

In order to prove the viral DNA they found in the computer data was actually present in nature, SDSU virologist John Mokili used a technique known as DNA amplification, which helped them locate the virus in the samples originally used to construct the NIH database. Mokili was able to find biological proof of its existence.

Its not unusual to go looking for a novel virus and find one, but its very unusual to find one that so many people have in common. The fact that its flown under the radar for so long is very strange, Edwards, who was the papers lead author, said in a statement Thursday. Weve basically found it in every population weve looked at. As far as we can tell, its as old as humans are.

CrAssphage is what is known as a bacteriophage, meaning it is a virus which is known to infect and replicate inside bacteria. Mundasad said that the SDSU team is now attempting to grow the virus in the laboratory, and if that proves successful, they will attempt to figure out exactly how this pathogen affects our gut bacteria.

That has proven somewhat challenging as the researchers have had difficulty gathering details about crAssphage. For instance, they currently do not know how it is transmitted, but the fact that it was not present in the fecal samples of young infants suggests that it is not passed from mother to child it is acquired later in childhood.

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Newly Discovered Gut Virus Could Play A Role In Obesity, Diabetes