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Evidence for influenza A virus RNA in Siberian lake ice.

Zhang G, Shoham D, Gilichinsky D, Davydov S, Castello JD, Rogers SO

Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 43403, USA; Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Soil Cryology Laboratory, Institute for Physicochemical & Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290, Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia; Pacific Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 678830, Cherskii, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia; Environmental and Forest Biology, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA.

Influenza A infects a large proportion of the human population annually, sometimes leading to the deaths of millions. The biotic cycles of infection are well characterized, and include studies among populations of humans, poultry, swine, and migratory waterfowl. However, there are few studies of abiotic reservoirs for this virus. Here, we report the preservation of influenza A genes in ice and water from high latitude lakes that are visited by large numbers of migratory birds. The lakes are along the migratory flight paths of birds flying into Asia, North America, Europe, and Africa. The data suggest that influenza A virus deposited as the birds begin their autumn migration can be preserved in lake ice. As birds return in the spring, the ice melts releasing the viruses. Therefore, temporal gene flow is facilitated between the viruses shed during the previous year, and the newly-acquired viruses contracted by the birds during the winter months spent in the south. Above the Arctic Circle, the cycles of entrapment in the ice and release by melting can be variable in length, because some ice persists for several years, decades, or longer. This type of temporal gene flow might be a feature common to viruses that can survive entrapment in environmental ice and snow.

Published 12 October 2006 in J Virol.
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