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VIRAL FOSSIL RECORD IS DNA. "The genomes of many organism contain endogenous viral elements (EVEs). These DNA sequences are the remnants of ancient virus genes and genomes that ancestrally 'invaded' the host germline. For example, the genomes of most vertebrate species contain hundreds to thousands of sequences derived from ancient retroviruses." https://lnkd.in/dPyAFVt View in LinkedIn

MORE FLEXIBLE. "In contrast to cellular genomes, which are all made of double-stranded DNA, viral DNA genomes are very diverse." https://lnkd.in/dNTbYMw View in LinkedIn

ANCIENT VIRAL RESURRECTION."A 35 Mio-year-old HERV was reconstructed from several defective HERV sequences by deduction of a consensus sequence as infectious virus, designated Phoenix." https://lnkd.in/eGaw2Kq View in LinkedIn

ANCIENT INFECTIONS. "Viruses were already infecting organisms some 300 million years ago, suggests a new study on what may be the oldest date yet for the emergence of an insect-infecting virus." They are considered to have emerged before modern cells. https://lnkd.in/d-szGeg View in LinkedIn

FLU VIRUSES. "Influenza A viruses have caused pandemics in humans during the 20th century, such as ‘‘Spanish Flu’’ caused by the H1N1 virus that killed 25–50 million people worldwide in 1918, ‘‘Asian Flu’’ by the H2N2 virus that killed 1–4 million people in 1957, and ‘‘Hong Kong Flu’’ by the H3N2 virus that killed 0.75–2 million people in 1968. The H1N1 and H3N2 viruses still continue to circulate and cause annual epidemics that kill 0.25–0.5 million people worldwide." https://lnkd.in/d4eZr87 View in LinkedIn

VIRAL DISEASES DATABASE. 128 viral diseases have been characterized. There are undoubtedly numerous more benign chronic infections yet to be found. https://lnkd.in/dhSyxZp View in LinkedIn

GENE TRANSFER. "The very first transformation experiment, described in 1928, showed that dead, disease-producing bacteria could transfer their disease-producing genes to other bacteria following injection into mice." https://lnkd.in/eJ8cwgX View in LinkedIn

CANCER MUTANT CLONES. "The selection of advantageous mutations underlies tumorigenesis. The growth of a tumor is therefore a form of evolution at the somatic level, in which the population is comprised of individual cells within the tumor. Tumor growth is initiated by one or more mutations which give a cell a selective advantage. The clone derived from that cell then expands. Successive advantageous mutations occur, each followed by waves of clonal expansion." https://lnkd.in/dM_2K6d View in LinkedIn

HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER IN TUMORIGENESIS. "Highly pleomorphic bacteria have been regularly isolated from a variety of mammalian tumors and leukemic bloods...some highly pleomorphic bacteria express mammalian eukaryote-derived genes acquired through a process of eukaryote-to-prokaryote DNA transfer that is driven by changes in the oxygen environment." https://lnkd.in/dSMG3K7 View in LinkedIn

CANCER AND INFECTIONS. "Increasing evidence suggests a key role for the bacterial microbiota in carcinogenesis. Chronic infections contribute to carcinogenesis with approximately 18% of the global cancer burden being directly attributable to infectious agents." An important opinion paper. https://lnkd.in/dxkqA5P View in LinkedIn