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SILENT MAJORITY. “Whether they are host-associated or free-living, we now know that most viruses (like microbes in general) are not pathogenic to humans, plants, or animals.” https://lnkd.in/g35Hmrp View in LinkedIn

The Guardian view on pesticides: give bees a chance View in LinkedIn

BAD GUY VIRUSES that have caused pandemics get the popular attention, and have killed hundreds of millions of people over the centuries. The 1918 explosive influenza pandemic killed more people than than the first world war. These have been fixed in the public imagination as the portrait of viruses, just nasty germs. https://lnkd.in/gtZ2Tfk View in LinkedIn

GLOBAL CYCLING IMPACT. “Viruses are the most abundant entities across all habitats, and a major reservoir of genetic diversity affecting biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem dynamics.” https://lnkd.in/gGriiyJ View in LinkedIn

GENETIC INNOVATORS. “The huge population of viruses, combined with their rapid rates of replication and mutation, makes them the world’s leading source of genetic innovation: they constantly “invent” new genes.” https://lnkd.in/gVBURjk View in LinkedIn

RECORD RATE OF HYPERMUTATION, in the HIV-1 virus genome: “an extremely high mutation rate of (4.1 ± 1.7) × 10(-3) per base per cell, the highest reported for any biological entity.” https://lnkd.in/gsDz7Gu View in LinkedIn

HORMONAL TRIGGER. "It is probable that sex in M. annua is brought about by modification of the plant hormone biosynthetic pathways." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

STRESS AND SEX SEPARATION. "Stress conditions and consequent resource limitations, such that hermaphrodites were unable to maintain both sex functions, might favour the separation of the sexes or might magnify the effects of inbreeding depression also favouring sex separation." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

LABILE SEXUAL IDENTITY. "Some plants, whether basically hermaphroditic, monoecious or dioecious, have extremely labile sex systems. These may be a result of an inability to control sex precisely in a complex environment or because lability confers an adaptive advantage." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

ELUSIVE GENE. "The search for the elusive primary sex determining gene will be extremely difficult and will be hampered by the sex differentiation genes acting downstream." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn