The SIRV2 virus is unlike other viruses. For one, it can survive in very harsh environments, but researchers from the University of Virginia who study this bizarre pathogen hope that this could be used beneficially in genetic therapy to treat diseases.

The researchers reported that the virus, which can survive regardless of being placed in extreme environments, offers a blueprint that could serve as key for fighting human diseases.

Discovered over a decade ago, the SIRV2 seems to resist almost all kinds of environment and temperature. The researchers said that the virus infects microscopic organisms and is able to survive in extreme subzero temperatures, ultraviolet radiation and even in boiling acid.

For their study, which was published in the journal Science on May 22, Edward Egelman, from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics of the UVA, and colleagues reported that the SIRV2 infects Sulfolobus islandicus. These microorganisms are known to live in acidic hot springs that reach up to 175 degrees Fahrenheit.

The researchers likewise found similarity between the virus and the means through which spores that sometimes exist in hospital settings manage to survive; this include the manner through which the SIRV2 forces itself into an A-form that gives it the ability to protect its DNA.

"The nonenveloped, rod-shaped virus SIRV2 (Sulfolobus islandicus rod-shaped virus 2) infects the hyperthermophilic acidophile Sulfolobus islandicus, which lives at 80°C and pH," the researchers wrote in their study. "The DNA is entirely in the A-form, which suggests a common mechanism with bacterial spores for protecting DNA in the most adverse environments."

DNA protection is crucial in attempts to battle diseases because the body has a number of ways to degrade DNA in bacteria and viruses that invade. This means that scientist may have possibly found a way to overcome protective systems in the human body.

"Some of these spores are responsible for very, very horrific diseases that are hard to treat, like anthrax. So we show in this paper that this virus actually functions in a similar way to some of the proteins present in bacterial spores," Egelman said, adding that knowing how these spores work gives scientists idea on how to destroy them.

The researchers were able to make the potentially life-saving discovery by using the Titan Krios electron microscope of UVA, a massive microscope with the ability to examine biological samples in high detail. 

Photo: Enzymlogic | Flickr