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VIRAL ROOTS. "In the Virus World, all viruses evolve from other viruses, even if via circuitous routes: Omnis virus e virus. Granted, this requires an important caveat: viruses do exist that seem to be disconnected form the rest of the virus world." https://lnkd.in/dHhQ6QH View in LinkedIn

TURBULENT EVOLUTION. "The continuity of the Virus World notwithstanding, during eukaryogenesis, one of the most remarkable, turbulent transitions in life's evolution, it has gone through a second melting pot that gave rise to the realm of eukaryotic viruses." https://lnkd.in/dHhQ6QH View in LinkedIn

OVERLAPPING GENES. "The virus world concept blurs the distinction between monophyletic and polyphyletic origins of virus classes and implies a "third path". The major classes of viruses do not have a common origin in the traditional sense but neither are they unrelated, being connected through overlapping arrays of common genes, some of which are hallmarks of the Virus World." https://lnkd.in/dHhQ6QH View in LinkedIn

VIRAL EXPANSION. "The cataclysmic events of eukaryogenesis appear to have precipitated the birth of a new domain of the virus world. Of course, our models of the virus world evolution depend on the adopted scenario for evolution of cells; to wit, a "eukaryotes first" scenario would call for a very different perspective on viral evolution as well." https://lnkd.in/dHhQ6QH View in LinkedIn

CLOSELY LINKED. "We must, once again, stress the importance of the links between viral and cellular evolution and the coherence of the emerging scenarios." https://lnkd.in/dHhQ6QH View in LinkedIn

GENE SWAPS. "The birth of the eukaryotic virus realm can be envisaged as a turbulent process of mixing and matching of genes from several different sources, the most important one being, probably, the gene pool of prokaryotic viruses, in the melting pot of the emergent eukaryotic cell." https://lnkd.in/dHhQ6QH View in LinkedIn

GENE PATHWAYS VERSUS POPULATIONS. "For decades, developmental geneticists have been elucidating the genes and genetic pathways involved in floral development in model species in laboratory environments. Simultaneously, evolutionary biologists have investigated genetic variation in natural populations as a means of understanding the genetic architecture underlying the development and evolution of adaptive (= heritable beneficial phenotype) traits." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

SEA-CHANGE. "A sea-change in how we define viral infection is being driven by a combination of classical genetics and the genomic revolution. In this emerging view, the well-known role of host genetic variation comes to the fore because highly specific allelic polymorphisms or mutations predispose a limited number of individuals to diseases caused by viruses that otherwise only rarely cause overt disease. In a real sense, the genes in the host “cause” the disease, as the viruses can infect many but cause disease in only a few." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn

LINKING THE PARTS. "The temporal element linking microevolutionary processes to macroevolutionary patterns is development: an organism's genotype is converted to phenotype by ontogenetic processes. Because selection acts upon the phenotype, the connection between evolutionary genetics and developmental evolution becomes essential to understanding adaptive evolution in organismal form and function." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

CROSSTALK. "There is significant crosstalk between chronic viral infections, as well as between viral infections and other types of infection. For example, HIV and HCV coinfection worsens the prognosis of both infections. The impact of persisting infections is not always negative. For example, infection by herpesviruses (HHV-6 or HHV-7) or GB virus C may inhibit HIV progression in some settings." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831 View in LinkedIn