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PATH TO ISOLATION. “Inversions may increase adaptation, for instance to particular habitats, and support spatial isolation within the population. Moreover, larger inversions can also affect genes involved in reproductive isolation, and, together with enhanced divergence, drive speciation. Inversions, therefore, seem to be strong promoters of reproductive isolation.” https://lnkd.in/eC8eb-V View in LinkedIn

QUASISPECIES. "RNA viruses evolve via quasispecies, which contain cooperating, minority, and even opposing RNA types." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12565/full View in LinkedIn

GENETIC INVERSIONS. “Inversions are intra-chromosomal rearrangements that do not necessarily result in loss of genetic material. However, inversions can have a considerable impact on meiotic reproduction by reducing recombination frequencies.” https://lnkd.in/eC8eb-V View in LinkedIn

VIRUS REMAINS DRIVE COMPLEXITY. "Eukaryotic complexity appears to be mostly mediated by regulatory complexity involving noncoding retroposon-derived RNA." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12565/full View in LinkedIn

UNEXPECTED BENEFITS. “Loss of genetic material by deletion can reduce the fitness of an organism. However, also the opposite situation can occur, for instance when a pathogen loses genes encoding molecules that are recognized by host immune receptors.” https://lnkd.in/eC8eb-V View in LinkedIn

GROUP IDENTITY. "I proposed that lytic and persisting cryptic virus also provide addiction modules that promote group identity. In eukaryotes (and the RNA world), a distinct RNA virus–host relationship exists. Retrovirurses/retroposons are major contributors to eukaryotic genomes." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12565/full View in LinkedIn

REPURPOSING. “Duplication of genetic material immediately leads to genetic redundancy, whereby gene copies can subsequently diverge and evolve toward novel or altered functionality. In plant pathogenic fungi and oomycetes, the expansion of a plethora of gene families such as peptidases, glycoside hydrolases, kinases, or transporters has been implicated in the pathogenic lifestyle.” https://lnkd.in/eC8eb-V View in LinkedIn

GENERATING DIVERSITY. “Chromosomal rearrangements induce a multitude of genomic variations such as duplications, deletions, inversions, and translocations, leading to the gain or loss of genomic material and are observed in both sexual and asexual fungi.” https://lnkd.in/eC8eb-V View in LinkedIn

REDUNDANCY. “The wheat pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola contains 21 chromosomes of which eight are conditionally dispensable. Particularly, the dispensable chromosomes display a high frequency of chromosomal rearrangements and, in the absence of strong positive selection, have been hypothesized to drive divergence.” https://lnkd.in/eC8eb-V View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first part on the evolutionary impact of viruses. They do not fit into the relatively tidy box that Victorian biologists constructed of the world. They defy the idea of species. They frustrate definitions of life. Their form is pure Euclidian geometry. They shimmer at the edge of our definitions of life. They mutate and reproduce at extraordinary rates. And contrary to the old picture, few are pathogenic and many have played an integral role in the evolution of life on this planet. A radical new picture. View in LinkedIn