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PRIONS EVOLVE WITHOUT DNA. "Prions are the clearest example of the evolutionary ability of nonliving agents. It is now known that as the abnormal prions replicate, variants can be created. And when those variants are transferred to a new host, natural selection will eventually choose the most virulent and aggressive variants...prions may develop drug resistance." https://lnkd.in/efuQiwq View in LinkedIn

SELF-PROPAGATING. "Prions are proteins that acquire alternative conformations that become self-propagating." (Stanley B. Prisoner, thought leader of prions). Without DNA, this protein has crossed the line of generally accepted definitions of life, and sparks the aspirations of many who wish to make self-propagating and evolving protein robots. https://lnkd.in/e5DP4zX View in LinkedIn

THUS WE LEAVE these strange and exotic creatures whose agricultural skills seem to exceed our own. Other ant societies are equally interesting and curious, and in the future we will visit the stunted parasite queen who rides on her host queen's shoulders like a ghastly She (H. Rider Haggard), while. being fed by her captors. View in LinkedIn

ADAPTION AND EVOLUTION. "Prions may undergo rapid adaptation and evolution in cloned cells and upon crossing the species barrier." The most virulent prion forms are selected by evolutionary pressures. https://lnkd.in/eE_2Z_t View in LinkedIn

LEAFCUTTER ant video. See the hygiene patrol ants dusted in white antibiotic producing filamentous bacteria, and how they were discovered. Lovely story. https://lnkd.in/evrywcT View in LinkedIn

PROTEIN EVOLUTION WITHOUT DNA. "In viruses, mutation is linked to changes in nucleic acid sequence that leads to resistance. Now, this adaptability has moved one level down – to prions and protein folding – and it’s clear that you do not need nucleic acid for the process of evolution.” https://lnkd.in/eR_TbTu View in LinkedIn

ANOTHER MONOCULTURE. "Another method to cultivate only its native strain of Pseudonocardia is that the ant's feces contain incompatibility chemicals which select only for its resident fungus. There are also behavior cues which suggest that the ants physically pick out other types of fungus." https://lnkd.in/eneZexX View in LinkedIn

PRION EVOLUTION. "Prions can develop large numbers of mutations at the protein level and, through natural selection, these mutations can eventually bring about such evolutionary adaptations as drug resistance, a phenomenon previously known to occur only in bacteria and viruses." https://lnkd.in/eR_TbTu View in LinkedIn

NO ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE. "Unlike the ant, fungi, and bacteria symbiosis, present day antibiotics often produce resistant types of pathogens. It is thought that the ant colonies do not produce antibiotic resistant molds because of the high diversity of the bacteria and as the two evolve together the parasitic mold will not evolve a resistance." https://lnkd.in/eneZexX View in LinkedIn

PRION AUTONOMY. "The usual criterion for classifying many of the entities of our continuum as non-living is autonomy. This emphasis on autonomy is problematic, however, because even paradigmatic biological individuals, such as large animals, are dependent on symbiotic associations with many other organisms. These composite individuals constitute the metabolic wholes on which selection acts." https://lnkd.in/e7VVjkg View in LinkedIn