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BRUTE FORCE DIVERSITY. "Although a high mutation rate is dangerous for a virus because it results in nonviable individuals, it has been hypothesized that high mutation rates create a 'cloud' of potentially beneficial mutations at the population level, which afford the viral quasispecies a greater probability to evolve and adapt to new environments and challenges during infection." http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7074/abs/nature04388.html View in LinkedIn

QUASI-SPECIES. "An RNA virus population does not consist of a single genotype; rather, it is an ensemble of related sequences, termed quasispecies. Quasispecies arise from rapid genomic evolution powered by the high mutation rate of RNA viral replication." https://lnkd.in/eb_myZ8 View in LinkedIn

"ARMS RACE between virus and the bacterial host drive high mutation rates to obtain a competitive advantage, a process that has gone on for millennia, and the mutations of the virus can interact with one other to be greater than the sum of the parts." https://lnkd.in/eXZyzaK View in LinkedIn

VIRAL NATURAL SELECTION. "These data show rapid adaptive evolution of the antiviral RNAi pathway in Drosophila. Viruses are the most likely candidates for driving this rapid evolution in genes of the (fruitfly host) siRNA pathway....they are important natural pathogens of Drosophila; nearly 40% of D. melanogaster are infected with horizontally transmitted viruses, and vertically transmitted viruses are also common." https://lnkd.in/e73iquh View in LinkedIn

DIATOMS AND OCEANIC BALANCE. "This group contributes approximately 40% to primary net production in the oceans. This success is suggested to be caused at least in part by the ability of diatoms to respond and adapt to large fluctuations in light irradiance, thereby maintaining high photosynthetic efficiency over a wide range of environmental conditions." Important review of diatoms. https://lnkd.in/eDtPqWt View in LinkedIn

"CHLOROPLAST-MITOCHONDRIA CROSS-TALK in diatoms. As a consequence of their dynamic evolutionary history, they appear to have red algal-derived chloroplasts empowered largely by green algal proteins, working alongside mitochondria derived from the non-photosynthetic exosymbiont." http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/01/20/jxb.err441.full View in LinkedIn

DIATOM UREA CYCLE FUNCTION. "The urea cycle appears to function in the recycling and biosynthesis of organic nitrogen compounds, rather than for their breakdown as in animals. Due to its positioning between the mitochondria and cytoplasm, it is likely to be of special importance for the exchange of nutrients between these two cellular compartments." http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/01/20/jxb.err441.full View in LinkedIn

ALMOST RECKLESS RATE. "RNA viruses mutate at the maximum error rate compatible with maintaining the integrity of genetic information (i.e., the error threshold) because this would allow them to quickly find the beneficial mutations needed for adaptation." Standard hypothesis. https://lnkd.in/e9KGgbm View in LinkedIn

UREA IN DIATOMS? "One of the first surprises to emerge from the sequencing of diatom genomes was the presence of an apparently fully functional urea cycle. Diatoms were, in fact, the first photosynthetic organisms to contain all the genes for such a cycle...Prior to its discovery in diatoms, it was believed to have been a metazoan innovation." http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/01/20/jxb.err441.full View in LinkedIn

HIGH MUTATION RATE. "As a consequence of the lack of proofreading activity of RNA virus polymerases, new viral genetic variants are constantly created. RNA viruses readily adapt to changing environmental conditions. Therefore, the high mutation rate of RNA viruses compared with DNA organisms is responsible for their enormous adaptive capacity." https://lnkd.in/e9KGgbm View in LinkedIn