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GROUP IDENTITY. "I proposed that lytic and persisting cryptic virus also provide addiction modules that promote group identity. In eukaryotes (and the RNA world), a distinct RNA virus–host relationship exists. Retrovirurses/retroposons are major contributors to eukaryotic genomes." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12565/full View in LinkedIn

REPURPOSING. “Duplication of genetic material immediately leads to genetic redundancy, whereby gene copies can subsequently diverge and evolve toward novel or altered functionality. In plant pathogenic fungi and oomycetes, the expansion of a plethora of gene families such as peptidases, glycoside hydrolases, kinases, or transporters has been implicated in the pathogenic lifestyle.” https://lnkd.in/eC8eb-V View in LinkedIn

GENERATING DIVERSITY. “Chromosomal rearrangements induce a multitude of genomic variations such as duplications, deletions, inversions, and translocations, leading to the gain or loss of genomic material and are observed in both sexual and asexual fungi.” https://lnkd.in/eC8eb-V View in LinkedIn

REDUNDANCY. “The wheat pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola contains 21 chromosomes of which eight are conditionally dispensable. Particularly, the dispensable chromosomes display a high frequency of chromosomal rearrangements and, in the absence of strong positive selection, have been hypothesized to drive divergence.” https://lnkd.in/eC8eb-V View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first part on the evolutionary impact of viruses. They do not fit into the relatively tidy box that Victorian biologists constructed of the world. They defy the idea of species. They frustrate definitions of life. Their form is pure Euclidian geometry. They shimmer at the edge of our definitions of life. They mutate and reproduce at extraordinary rates. And contrary to the old picture, few are pathogenic and many have played an integral role in the evolution of life on this planet. A radical new picture. View in LinkedIn

VIRUSES AND ALL TRANSITIONS. "We can then see that viruses were involved in most all major transitions of host biology in evolution. This will likely seem an overstated or even preposterous position to most readers. How could genetic parasites (viruses) be providing such fundamental capacity for host evolution? And why would they do so?" http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apm.12485/full View in LinkedIn

ALL PLACENTAL LINEAGES. "Over the years, it has become increasingly evident that endogenized retroviruses (ERVs) have been intimately and deeply involved in the placenta of all mammalian lineages." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apm.12485/full View in LinkedIn

VIRUSES AND THE PLACENTA. "The emergence of mammalian vivipary and the placenta presents many biological and behavioral issues that challenge theories of evolution. These biological and immunological dilemmas are associated with the emergence of the ‘foreign’ mammalian placenta (expressing paternal genes)." https://lnkd.in/etdQ9rN View in LinkedIn

VIRAL INVOLVEMENT. "All systems of host identity and immunity can be examined from this way and show viral involvement. I also examine the emergence of human social identity from this perspective which provides many new insights for the origin of social cooperation." https://lnkd.in/dk3eXRj View in LinkedIn

COMPREHENSIVE EXPLANATION. "The combined concepts of addiction modules and quasispecies can be applied to understand a wide array of phenomena, involving cooperation, network formation, symbiosis, immunity and group identity, all of which are also examined from a virus first perspective." https://lnkd.in/dk3eXRj View in LinkedIn