Paleovirology
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Through Fossil
Terminology
Although there is no formal classification system for EVEs, they are categorised according to the taxonomy of their viral origin. Indeed, all known viral genome types and replication strategies, as defined by the Baltimore classification, have been found in the genomic fossil record. Acronyms have been designated to describe different types of viral fossil.
- EVE: Endogenous viral element
- ERV: Endogenous retrovirus
- HERV: Human Endogenous Retrovirus
- NIRV: Viral fossils originating from non-retroviral RNA viruses have been termed Non-retroviral Integrated RNA Viruses or NIRVs. Unlike other types of viral fossils, NIRV formation requires borrowing the integration machinery that is coded by the host genome or by a co-infecting retrovirus.
Other viral fossils originate from DNA viruses such as hepadnaviruses (a group that includes hepatitis B).
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Resurrection
Successful attempts to "resurrect" extinct viruses from the DNA fossils have been reported. In addition, Pithovirus sibericum was revived from a 30,000-year-old ice core harvested from permafrost in Siberia, Russia.