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NOT IN TREE OF LIFE. “In the last decade metagenomic assessments have led us to realize that viruses are the dominate biological entities of the biosphere and are the most numerous, diverse and dynamic genetic agents on Earth. Although viruses have long been dismissed from the Tree of Life a simply destructive and selfish extra-genomic genetic parasites, comparative genomics now makes it clear that viral colonization distinguishes all domains of life.” Professor Luis Villarreal, a brilliant Virus First proponent. https://lnkd.in/da9vfBg View in LinkedIn

GENE SHORTAGE AND COMPENSATION. "Added to this are problems with gene dosage because the degenerate Y and the W have few genes. If an XY male mates with a ZW female, most of the progeny will be short of genes. There may also be problems with gene dosage because genes on the X and the Z are used to working harder to compensate for their single dosage." https://lnkd.in/ehjz378 View in LinkedIn

THE VIRUS FACTORY. “On one side, the bacteria are metabolically active, stealing ATP and biochemical precursors from their hosts to transcribe their genomes, translate their proteins, replicate their DNA, and divide. On the other side, one sees a large but metabolically silent viral particle, not deserving to be described as living by most biologists. This traditional view might, however, be a case of 'when the finger points to the stars, the fool looks at the finger'. Rather than comparing a parasitic cell to the virus particle, I believe we should compare it to the 'virus factory'.” https://lnkd.in/eyzfrxe View in LinkedIn

SEX WARS. "Rival sex genes may be at war with each other, causing intersexual development, or at least infertility. For instance, what will be the sex of a hybrid that has both a male-determining Y and a female-determining W?" https://lnkd.in/ehjz378 View in LinkedIn

RNA TO DNA. “Also quite provocative is the idea that RNA viruses might be at the origin of DNA biochemistry. According to this scenario, RNA-based viruses infecting RNA-based cells would have acquired an RNA-to-DNA modification system to resist cellular RNA-degrading enzymes (the RNA equivalent of present-day bacterial restriction and modification systems).” https://lnkd.in/eyzfrxe View in LinkedIn

INFECTIOUS NUCLEUS. “Of particular interest, such a transfer of an 'infectious' nucleus is well documented in many parasitic red algae. Such back-and-forth eukaryogenesis-viriogenesis could readily explain the multiplicity of present-day virus lineages, together with their diversity in size, complexity and gene complement, as well as the apparent mixture of monophyly and polyphyly (descent from more than one ancestor) exhibited by the viral world.” https://lnkd.in/eyzfrxe View in LinkedIn

NUCLEAR VIROGENESIS. “I personally find the general idea that a nucleus is functionally equivalent to a selfish DNA virus (that is, replicating 'its' DNA using the cellular metabolism) simple and very appealing - and even more so when one realizes that the idea can be turned on its head to envisage the nucleus of a (primitive) eukaryote (re-)turning into a large DNA virus - the notion of nuclear viriogenesis.” https://lnkd.in/eyzfrxe View in LinkedIn

DIVERSE REPRODUCTION. “Viruses are also more diverse when it comes to reproduction. "Cells only have two main ways of replicating their DNA," said Patrick Forterre, a virologist at Paris-Sud University. "One is found in bacteria, the other in Archaea and eukaryotes." Viruses, on the other hand, have many more methods at their disposal.” https://lnkd.in/eXmJ-Tt View in LinkedIn

DIVERSITY PATTERNS. “According to this perspective, if viruses developed from cells, they should be less diverse because cells would contain the entire range of genes available to viruses. It's a recurring theme in evolutionary biology: One of the reasons we know humans originated in Africa is that genetic diversity among residents of that continent is much greater than it is anywhere else. If this pattern of diversity is true for humans…there's no reason it can't also be true for viruses.” https://lnkd.in/eXmJ-Tt View in LinkedIn

VIRAL WORLD AND DIVERSITY. “Supporters point to a few lines of evidence. First, the diversity of viruses far exceeds that found in cellular life. "Where diversity lies, origin lies.” https://lnkd.in/eXmJ-Tt View in LinkedIn