According to a 2009 study, the roots of the virus that causes AIDS could be found in a tiger that lived thousands or even millions of years ago . According to Robert Bambara and his colleagues at the University of Rochester (USA), the virus appropriated some of the genetic material of the tiger, and a portion of the feline remains in the virus to this day. It is likely that one of these animals bit a monkey and transferred the virus to the apes, although there could have been another route of transmission, Bambara said. To confirm his hypothesis, it will be necessary to determine whether a cousin of the human AIDS virus (HIV) in monkeys, known as simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), has the tiger gene.
If there is a relationship between the presence of the gene and the potency of the virus, it could help scientists discover ways to better treat humans. The study was published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology .
