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"VIRUSES are transmissible deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA) genetic elements that require a cell for multiplication. Viruses are extremely diverse and ubiquitous in nature. They evolve in continuous interaction with their host cells and organisms, following the general Darwinian principles: genetic variation, competition among variant forms and selection of the most fit variants in a given environment. Viruses probably had an ancient origin and have survived as agents of gene transfer and promoters of cell variation." https://lnkd.in/dStPB6v View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE contemplates the phenomenal rates of infectious viral evolution. The combination of extraordinary mutation rates and lightening quick reproduction rates, viruses can outrun their host defenses quickly. Studies of influenza and AIDS suggest that early infections can be boom-and-bust, but as the epidemic progresses, it naturally slows due to limited host availability and selective pressures. Meet some of the most successful creatures on planet earth. View in LinkedIn

GENE FOUNTAIN. “We identified thousands of potentially functional putative genes that arose rapidly and evolved from non-autonomous MULE sequences in Oryza.” (MULEs = Mutator-like transposable elements; Oryza = a type of crop plant). http://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-016-0954-8 View in LinkedIn

REMARKABLE ROLE. “Due to the high abundance of MULEs and their remarkable functional roles in genome evolution, it is imperative to elucidate the origination, evolutionary processes, and regulatory mechanisms of MULE-derived genes in plant genomes.” (MULEs = Mutator-like transposable elements). http://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-016-0954-8 View in LinkedIn

BIRTH OF NEW GENES. “It has been demonstrated that non-autonomous MULEs can capture ectopic genomic sequences, such as gene fragments, and transpose them into new genomic locations, thereby forming putative new gene structures.” (MULEs = Mutator-like transposable elements). http://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-016-0954-8 View in LinkedIn

“NEW GENES can be created through various mechanisms, such as whole-genome duplication, small-scale duplication, illegitimate recombination, horizontal gene transfer, gene fusion, de novo origination from non-coding DNA sequence, RNA mediated retrotransposition, and dispersion/origination through TEs.” (TE = transposable elements). https://lnkd.in/dPzCkty View in LinkedIn

“MUTATORS are class II DNA transposable elements (TEs) and have propagated widely across both prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes through a “cut-and-paste” mechanism. The Mutator system was first reported in maize and was later found in other plants, bacteria, fungi and protozoans. Mutator-like transposable elements (MULEs) are especially pervasive in higher plant genomes such as rice (Oryza sativa), in which more than 10,000 copies have been identified.” https://lnkd.in/dPzCkty View in LinkedIn

HYPER-ADAPTION. "This extraordinarily high rate of evolution allows viruses to escape from host immunity and rapidly adapt to a new host when they cross species." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215000549 View in LinkedIn

REPURPOSED VIRAL FOSSILS. “These examples are likely to reflect a more general phenomenon of exaptation and/or domestication during lncRNA evolution whereby TES are employed as DNA-, RNA-, and protein-binding domain/motifs.” (lincRNA = long intergenic non-coding RNA). https://lnkd.in/dwuaM5f View in LinkedIn

HUMAN VERSUS VIRUS. "We might like to think of ourselves as the most “highly evolved” species but, in terms of how many rounds of mutation and selection we’ve undergone, we are one of the least evolved species. Around 10 billion new viral particles can be produced every day in the body of a person infected with HIV. By contrast, the total human population on Earth was no more than a few million until a few thousand years ago." https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13640-evolution-myths-evolution-produces-perfectly-adapted-creatures/ View in LinkedIn