Year: 2022

JUNK DNA SAVED THE HOST. "The presence of incomplete viral elements in host genomes are not simply the remnants of past viral infection and disease (virus sweeps), but should be considered as the savior of the host lineage by providing the capacity for self regulation and persistence of viruses that can still threaten related species. Virus persistence provides a large selective advantage in the virosphere." https://lnkd.in/etdQ9rN View in LinkedIn

PERSISTENT VIRUSES. "Viral persistence is a big determinant of host survival with strong effects on host group survival as well (via virus communication). It defines a relationship between virus and host and between host themselves that does not adhere to the predator–prey theory." https://lnkd.in/etdQ9rN View in LinkedIn

CHRONIC, SILENT AND STABLE. "Nor does it adhere to the red-queen hypothesis. Persistent virus is usually highly prevalent, silent, often genetically stable, co-evolving with the host and usually transmitted from parent (old) to offspring (young) or in close coordination to host reproductive biology." https://lnkd.in/etdQ9rN View in LinkedIn

HYBRID BEINGS. "Establishing persistence is difficult and can be thought of as resulting from a successful hacking of host identity networks to insert new code and promote survival of a new more complex virus–host identity." Read and re-read carefully. https://lnkd.in/etdQ9rN View in LinkedIn

HUGE IMPACT. "Since persistence is always regulated, it is a mostly silent state in which reactivation is tightly linked to host (reproductive) biology with big consequences to host and virus fitness." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apm.12485/full View in LinkedIn

NEW PARADIGM. "Asserting the core importance of persistent virus to host survival thus presents a big break from historic views in evolutionary biology and adds a process of selection that stems from the horizontal transmission of persistent virus. As the virosphere provides no ‘virus-free' habitat for any life form, all living forms have adapted to their own viral habitat." https://lnkd.in/etdQ9rN View in LinkedIn

MOLECULAR PIRACY? “The fact that K+ channels from all eukaryotes contain a common pore structure that resembles the viral K+ channels is consistent with the traditional assumption that viruses are mere ‘gene pick pockets’ and frequently acquire genes from their host via molecular piracy.” https://lnkd.in/dsexZC2 View in LinkedIn

NEW IDEAS. “If the viral channel proteins are simplified versions of cellular proteins recently acquired from their hosts, then we would expect to see a high level of sequence similarity between the viral and host homologs. However, this traditional view of virus evolution has been challenged by recent phylogenetic studies of genes in large eukaryotic viruses and prokaryotic viruses.” https://lnkd.in/dsexZC2 View in LinkedIn

HORIZONTAL NOT VERTICAL. “Comparative genomics studies further suggest that virus evolution can best be understood in terms of reticulated ‘trees’ and mosaic evolution. This means that large DNA viruses fundamentally have a network-based history that does not trace back to a single gene or set of genes.” https://lnkd.in/dsexZC2 View in LinkedIn

VIRAL GENE SWAPS. “Hence their ancestor probably exchanged vast pools of genetic elements horizontally and generated a reticulated network of genes at an early stage of their evolution. This view is consistent with the genetics of phycodnavirus evolution as these viruses have both prokaryotic and eukaryotic homologs in addition to many other genes with no cellular homologs.” https://lnkd.in/dsexZC2 View in LinkedIn