Yellowstone"s bacteria by Claudia Sonea

The world's first national park, Yellowstone National Park is located in the U.S. state of Wyoming, but extendes into Montana and Idaho too. Therefore the bacteria that usually thrieves during the spring stirs a lot of concerns. Thermus aquaticus produces an enzyme useful in diagnosing hereditary and infectious diseases. Still researchers have studied it closer and paid more attention to the smaller organisms, viruses that keep those bacteria populations. Montana State University and the Idaho National Laboratory is doing a study on this issue and until now the main discovery was that viruses appear to migrate around Yellowstone on steam droplets. Frank Roberto, a microbiologist at the Idaho National Laboratory who sequenced and analyzed the DNA of Yellowstone viruses, stated that the viruses leave the host in order to reproduce and then it is when they enter in a hostile environment. Researchers have concluded that once they leave the host the viruses can survive to travel a very long distance before finding new microbial hosts and transfer genetic information that could affect the lives of the bacteria. In two years they located viruses near Norris Geyser Basin, Mud Volcano and a third between Midway Geyser Basin and Old Faithful. These viruses spread much like influenza does it through sneeze, only they use the steam. The impact it may have on people it is yet unknown, the mentioned study has the goal of finding both causes of the bacteria and effects. It will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as soon as possible. The problem it is urgent and researchers hope to get over with it as fast as they can. Stay connected and find out what it is indeed happen with the viruses and how are they dangerous for people.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071113/ap_on_sc/yellowstone_viruses;_ylt=AgNPHCDf6.Xr5gcUbjjHICqs0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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Edited by Zuzana Tylkova