Month: September 2022

SUPER FAST EVOLUTION. "Three characteristics contribute to the rapid evolution of these viruses: large populations, short generation times and high mutation rates. Every mutation, which enables its carrier to evade the host’s immune system, will be (positively) selected, passed on to the next generation and distributed more widely. Influenza viruses evolve 1 million times faster than mammals. Five years of virus evolution roughly correspond to the time span, which separates humans and chimpanzees from their last common ancestor." https://lnkd.in/d8xM5QF View in LinkedIn

GENETIC SHUFFLING. "Besides mutations, viruses with segmented genomes change genetically through ‘genetic reassortment’. The latter term denotes the exchange of one or more genome segments between two related viruses which infect a host cell at the same time. During such a double infection the construction plans of both viruses become replicated in one host cell." https://lnkd.in/d8xM5QF View in LinkedIn

ANTIGENIC SHIFT. "The reassortment of complete units of genetic material results in the formation of ‘reassortants’ or ‘mosaic’ viruses. At times, ‘genetic reassortment’ affects the exchange of genome segments encoding the viral surface proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Thereby, the virus achieves a new antigenic pattern." https://lnkd.in/d8xM5QF View in LinkedIn

VIRUSES CREATE GENETIC DIVERSITY. "Virus infection of a cell is a very efficient way to supply novel genetic information. A viral infection is more efficient in generating genetic diversity than mutations of cellular genes." https://lnkd.in/eGaw2Kq View in LinkedIn

THE NEW ANTIBIOTIC? "Phages killing bacteria had been used for almost 100 years as antibacterial therapy before the discovery of antibiotics. Phage cocktails were utilized in the Soviet Union in the Russian-Finnish war to avoid amputations on injured soldiers. Phage therapy is currently not fashionable in Western medicine, although it may gain attention again if resistance of bacteria to antibiotics continues to grow and increase the danger for human health." https://lnkd.in/eGaw2Kq View in LinkedIn

"VIROPHAGES are small viruses that eat other larger viruses, and are a type of Satellite Virus that needs the presence of another virus to flourish. Virophages include the Spitnik virophage, and the Marvirus virophage (aka Maverick), both found in water-cooling towers in Paris and the UK." Definately strange creatures. https://lnkd.in/djXb4Ng View in LinkedIn

BEHAVIORAL CHEMISTRY. "When the molecules involved are complex enough to attain a stochastic element to their structural conformation in such a way as to radically affect their function in a biological (evolvable) setting, then they have the capacity to behave, and the analysis of such molecular-level behavior would be described as behavioral chemistry. Behavioral chemistry is derived from two processes, either or both of which can be in operation at any given point in time." http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/2/4/313/htm View in LinkedIn

PHYSICAL COMPLEXITY. "Complexity is not unique to living systems and can be seen in many non-living physical systems as well as in simple mathematical models." http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/2/4/313/htm View in LinkedIn

"COMPLEXITY cannot solely determine behavior. A pertinent example of this is the formose reaction, whereby the incubation of the two simple precursors formaldehyde and glycoaldehyde can lead to the spontaneous synthesis of many sugars, including ribose." http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/2/4/313/htm View in LinkedIn

POLYMER ASSEMBLY. "When life on Earth began nearly 4 billion years ago, long before humans, dinosaurs or even the earliest single-celled forms of life roamed, it may have started as a hiccup rather than a roar: small, simple molecular building blocks known as "monomers" coming together into longer "polymer" chains and falling apart in the warm pools of primordial ooze over and over again." https://lnkd.in/d8gcKMj View in LinkedIn