Influenza viruses may have originated in fish 600 million years ago

1 year ago 74

Life

A flu microorganism recovered successful a sturgeon resembles the predicted ancestor of each known forms of influenza, hinting that the microorganism archetypal evolved successful fish

By Carissa Wong

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1 March 2023

Siberian Sturgeon

A flu microorganism recovered successful a Siberian sturgeon has a familial series adjacent that of an ancestral flu virus

Christian GUY/imageBROKER/Alamy

A flu microorganism recovered successful a sturgeon hints that influenza viruses originated successful food astir 600 cardinal years agone and evolved with their hosts to infect a wide scope of taxon today.

Influenza viruses origin unwellness successful galore vertebrates, including humans, birds, cats, whales and dolphins, but small is known astir however they archetypal evolved.

In 2018, researchers identified a microorganism from a hagfish that resembled a predicted ancestral signifier of …

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