Month: September 2022

INCREASED DIVERSITY. "Many RNA viruses undergo recombination or reassortment during replication. In cells infected at high multiplicity, for example, this exchange of genetic information can increase genetic diversity by combining previously unique mutations into the same genome." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215001580 View in LinkedIn

MUTATION TOLERANCE ENHANCED. "While the impact of viral recombination in evolution remain somewhat obscure, it is clear that these processes can also repair mutated genomes by purging mutations even in cells infected at low multiplicity. Thus, these “repairs” maintain viral fitness, and they may serve to increase the mutational tolerance of viral populations." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215001580 View in LinkedIn

PATHOGENICITY. "Understanding RNA recombination is also important due to its potential to produce new hybrid strains, which may have novel properties and enhanced pathogenicity. Many recombinant RNA virus strains provide ample indication that recombination does exist in nature to generate new variation that enhances virus fitness." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215001580 View in LinkedIn

GENES ACQUIRED FROM HOST. "In some viruses this new variation is achieved by borrowing genetic material from their hosts. For example, influenza A virus has been observed to recombine with cellular RNA, resulting in increased pathogenicity for the hybrid viruses." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215001580 View in LinkedIn

HOST ECOSYSTEM. "It is thus possible to extend the concept of quasispecies to include viral strains that co-circulate and that, by coinfecting cells in the infected individuals, can recombine increasing the sequence space that the virus can explore in search for evolutionary innovation." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215001580 View in LinkedIn

GENES FROM LIVE VACCINES. "Importantly, the pathogenic consequences of recombination need to be carefully considered whenever multivalent live-attenuated vaccines are used. For example, recombination of poliovirus vaccine strains leads to the frequent recovery of recombinant pathogenic poliovirus; similarly, this is also observed for infectious bronchitis virus." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215001580 View in LinkedIn

SHIFTING CLOUD. "Quasispecies theory has encouraged viewing and examining viruses as complex mutant spectra, and not merely as simple genetic entities that can be described with a defined nucleotide sequence, as believed only a few decades ago." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215001580 View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS these two weekends looking at RNA virus quasispecies. No other creature on this planet has such a high rate of mutation, and viruses are the largest pool of genetic diversity; they actively exchange genes between them and with their hosts. These shimmering and shape-shifting populations have played a key role in evolution, and equally, when the symbiotic spectrum is at the extreme, represent diseases that can be very hard to treat. That said, the vast majority of viruses are benign, and co-exist happily with their host ecosystems. View in LinkedIn

ENGINE OF INNOVATION. "Life on Earth ... has demonstrated extraordinary resiliency and inventiveness in adapting to highly disparate niches. Perhaps the most significant invention of life is a genetic system that has an extensible capacity for inventiveness, something that likely will not be achieved soon for synthetic biological systems." http://www.cfr.org/united-states/biologys-brave-new-world/p31894 View in LinkedIn

TRANSITION TO LIVING MOLECULES. "However, once informational macromolecules are given the opportunity to inherit profitable variation through self-sustained Darwinian evolution, they just may take on a life of their own." Read very carefully. http://www.cfr.org/united-states/biologys-brave-new-world/p31894 View in LinkedIn