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MORE SUPERLATIVES. "There are an estimated 10(31) viruses on Earth. That is to say: there may be a hundred million times more viruses on Earth than there are stars in the universe." https://lnkd.in/dzmPw57 View in LinkedIn

OUR VIRAL GENOME. "Viruses may be our third genome. We harbor about 1.5 kg of bacteria in our guts – 1,500 different types. Viruses are also a major component in our guts. Two hundred types have been detected in human gut samples based on similarities to known viruses." https://lnkd.in/eGaw2Kq View in LinkedIn

OUR BACTERIAL GENOME. "Bacterial information is our second genome, with a total genetic complexity about 100 times greater than that of our own genome. We are 99 % bacteria – with respect to the total genetic information of our body." https://lnkd.in/eGaw2Kq View in LinkedIn

SIMPLE IS THE NEW COMPLEX. "The interesting thing about these results is that they indicate that viruses must have diversified from ancient cells by a process called reductive evolution, where organisms simplify instead of becoming more complex." http://www.popsci.com/new-evidence-that-viruses-are-alive View in LinkedIn

STREAMLINED BEASTS. "Viruses are ancient and have played a major role in biological evolution. Such structurally simple creatures were not defined as living until recently. They take over a host's cellular machinery in order to replicate, and as such are true obligate parasites, unable to replicate without a host." https://lnkd.in/enwDruZ View in LinkedIn

ABUNDANCE. "It has been realized quite recently that viral particles are by far the most abundant biological entities on our planet. Indeed, they are ten times more abundant than bacterial cells in the upper ocean." https://lnkd.in/enwDruZ View in LinkedIn

ORIGINAL INHABITANTS. "There are 10 to the 33 viruses on our planet, about 10 times more than bacteria. There are only about 10 to the 9 human beings – a small minority, which makes us the invaders in the viral world, not vice versa. They are present in the oceans, 10 to the 12 per ml, in the soil, abundant in plants, and inside the human body. Healthy humans consist of about 10 to the 13 cells and harbor 10 to the 14 to 10 to the 18 bacteria and an unknown number of viruses." https://lnkd.in/eGaw2Kq View in LinkedIn

VAST NUMBERS. "Viruses are the most abundant ‘life forms’ in aquatic systems, and their number probably exceeds 10(29) in the ocean. Aligning these oceanic viruses and assuming an average diameter of 50 nm for a marine virus, the viral string-of-pearls would be 400,000 light years long. In comparison, the diameter of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is only 25,000 light years." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1462-2920.2003.00539.x/full View in LinkedIn

TEN TO ONE. "Microbial ecologists have demonstrated that viruses are the most numerous biological entities on earth, outnumbering cells by a factor of 10." http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1527/2263.full.pdf+html View in LinkedIn

MOST ABUNDANT CREATURE. "Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on earth, and are the most abundant type of biological entity." https://lnkd.in/eF3wTsF View in LinkedIn