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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

MOLECULAR MEMORY. "There are additional observations that support the view that mutant spectra are true actors of evolutionary outcomes. Viral quasispecies can be endowed with a molecular memory consisting of minority genomes present at higher than basal frequency levels because the genomes had been dominant in a prior phase of evolution of the same lineage." 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

EXTREME CASES. "Some extreme cases of complementation between variants generated during quasispecies evolution that can greatly alter viral population structure or function have been described." 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

SWARM REPLICATIVE ADVANTAGE. "Regarding complementation within mutant spectra, an initial observation was that fitness of biological viral clones was on average lower than fitness of the complete populations from which the clones were derived, indicating that the mutant ensemble had some replicative advantage over its individual components." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215001580 View in LinkedIn

DNA JOIN AND FORK CIRCUIT ANIMATION, another provocative clip. https://lnkd.in/dZuK7Zn View in LinkedIn

DNA STRAND DISPLACEMENT ANIMATION. It is hard to watch this brilliant animation and not think of intelligent molecules. Prions are just proteins that can replicate and evolve. Jumping genes are just strands of genetic code that have gained some lifestyle autonomy from the cell. Not just an idle thought. Life had to transition from the inanimate somewhere in the universe. http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=228977 View in LinkedIn

DNA JOIN CIRCUIT. Video of the process. https://lnkd.in/dQrjeji View in LinkedIn

THE MASSIVE INVENTIVENESS of natural evolution is truly a spectacle to behold, from the endless quirkiness of physical morphology to the amazing creativity of genetics. Mobile genetic elements, viruses, bacteria and horizontal gene transfer have reinvented themselves millions of times over by every method unimaginable. Humans, but not Nature, are limited by their own imaginations. View in LinkedIn