A groundbreaking Tel Aviv University study has discovered about 100,000 new types of previously unknown viruses – a ninefold increase in the amount of RNA viruses known to science until now. The viruses were discovered in global environmental data from soil samples, oceans, lakes, and a variety of other ecosystems. The researchers believe that the discovery may help in the development of anti-microbial drugs and in protecting against agriculturally harmful fungi and parasites.

Most Viruses Not Harmful to Humans

The study was led by doctoral student Uri Neri under the guidance of Prof. Uri Gophna of the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research in The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University. The research was conducted in collaboration with the US-based research bodies NIH and JGI, as well as the Pasteur Institute in France. The study was published in the prestigious journal Cell, and comprised data collected by more than a hundred scientists around the world.

Viruses are genetic parasites, meaning they must infect a living cell to replicate their genetic information, produce new viruses, and complete their infection cycle. Some viruses are disease-causing agents that can cause harm to humans (such as the coronavirus), but most viruses do not harm us – some of them even live inside our bodies without us even being aware of it.

“One of the key questions in microbiology is how and why viruses transfer genes between them. We identified several cases in which such gene exchanges enabled viruses to infect new organisms.” Prof. Uri Gophna

Harnessing Viruses for Use in Medicine and Agriculture

Uri Neri says that the study used new computational technologies to mine genetic information collected from thousands of different sampling points around the world: oceans, soil, sewage, geysers, and more. The researchers developed a sophisticated computational tool that distinguishes between the genetic material of RNA viruses and that of the hosts and used it to analyze the big data. The discovery allowed the researchers to reconstruct how the viruses underwent diverse acclimation processes throughout their evolutionary development to adapt to different hosts.

In analyzing their findings, the researchers were able to identify viruses suspected of infecting various pathogenic microorganisms, thus enabling viruses to control them. “The system we developed makes it possible to perform in-depth evolutionary analyses and to understand how the various RNA viruses have developed throughout evolutionary history,” explains Prof. Gophna. “One of the key questions in microbiology is how and why viruses transfer genes between them. We identified several cases in which such gene exchanges enabled viruses to infect new organisms.”

“Furthermore, compared to DNA viruses, the diversity and roles of RNA viruses in microbial ecosystems are not well understood. In our study, we found that RNA viruses are not uncommon in the evolutionary landscape and, in fact, that in some respects they are not that different from DNA viruses. This opens the door for future research, and for a better understanding of how viruses can be harnessed for use in medicine and agriculture.”

Featured image: The researchers (from left to right): Uri Neri and Prof. Uri Gophna

Every year, wind turbines around the world kill millions of bats and other flying animals that fly into the turbine’s blades. A new study by Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa offers an original solution to the biological challenge of wind turbine operation and helps prevent harm caused to flying animals, in particular bats: a unique drone-mounted technology that transmits a combination of ultrasonic signals and lights. This deters the bats and leads them to fly at a higher altitude, outside the danger zone, thereby allowing the turbines to continue to operate efficiently and continuously.

“Our study was the first in the world to combine these technologies – RADAR, LIDAR and high-altitude acoustic recorders – to track bats.” Yuval Werber

Innovative Bat Tracking and Signaling

The study was conducted under the leadership of doctoral student Yuval Werber of the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology at the University of Haifa and his two supervisors, Prof. Yossi Yovel, head of Tel Aviv University’s Sagol School of Neuroscience and faculty member of the School of Zoology, and Prof. Nir Sapir, the Head of the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology at the University of Haifa, and in collaboration with the company WinGo Energy and the entrepreneur Gadi Hareli. The article was published in the journal Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, and the study was funded by a research grant from the Israeli Ministry of Energy.

“Wind turbines are considered a promising technology in the field of renewable energy, but their operation involves a variety of biological challenges,” explains Prof. Yossi Yovel. “Today, the only solution to prevent the death of bats is to stop turbine activity at times when the bats are expected to be particularly active. But such interruptions reduce the turbines’ efficiency and the amount of energy they can produce.”

“The advantage of the drone is that it is in constant motion and transmits a combination of visual and acoustic signals designed specifically for bats, warning them of danger. When signals are stationary and constant, animals tend to get used to them and eventually ignore them.”

Yuval Werber shares that, “the study, which is part of my doctoral thesis, was conducted in the Hula Valley, an area with a lot of bat activity. We operated the drone at a height of 100 meters – the average height of the center of a wind turbine, and in motion along a path of about 100 meters, back and forth.”

“To track the bats’ activity, we used RADAR located on the ground, which allowed for tracking at a height of 100 meters and above, and we added a LIDAR device – a laser-based tool that is used to detect objects at short distances, mainly in the automotive industry – for tracking at a lower height. At the same time, we made acoustic recordings of the bats in flight, using receivers placed at three different heights: one meter, 150 meters, and 300 meters. We used a blimp to elevate the receivers. Importantly, our study was the first in the world to combine these technologies – RADAR, LIDAR and high-altitude acoustic recorders – to track bats.”

“On the one hand, it prevents the killing of bats, and on the other hand, it enables the operation of the turbine and the production of green energy in a safe, continuous and efficient manner.” Prof. Yossi Yovel

Effective Bat Repeller

Using a variety of monitoring methods, the researchers compared the bats’ normal activity with their activity in the presence of the drone carrying the deterrent device. The findings were unequivocal – the device succeeded in keeping the bats away. With the drone’s presence, the bats’ activity underneath it decreased by about 40 percent, at a distance of up to about 400 meters. On the other hand, their activity increased above the drone’s altitude of 100 meters, up to 800 meters.

“It appears that the device is effective in repelling bats from its immediate environment – the bats sense the visual and ultrasonic signals it emits and choose to fly over it, as we had hoped,” says Prof. Yovel.

“We hypothesize that if the device is activated near a turbine, it will lead the bats to fly over the turbine and out of harm’s way. This is an effective and easily-implemented solution that is reasonably priced, with great benefit to all parties: on the one hand, it prevents the killing of bats, and on the other hand, it enables the operation of the turbine and the production of green energy in a safe, continuous and efficient manner. We intend to carry out a follow-up experiment on a wind turbine site, in order to test the efficiency of the device under these conditions.”