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COLLABORATIVE MOLECULES. "Life arises when lineage-forming entities collaborate in metabolism." https://lnkd.in/e7VVjkg View in LinkedIn

PRIONS AS SELF-INTERESTED COLLABORATORS. "Prions exhibit collaborative behaviours that benefit themselves, as a class of protein isoforms, as well as their hosts." https://lnkd.in/eNrKfp8 View in LinkedIn

QUASI-SPECIES. "The prion protein is not a clone, it is a quasi-species that can create different protein strains even in the same animal. The abnormal prion proteins multiply by converting normal prion proteins." https://lnkd.in/eRi8WNN View in LinkedIn

PRION MUTATIONS. "The existence of prion strains raises questions of how hereditable biological information can be encrypted in a molecule other than nucleic acid. There is mounting evidence that the diversity of prions is enciphered in the conformation of the PrP(Sc) protein." Conformation is simply the shape of the molecule. https://lnkd.in/ezndu2V View in LinkedIn

PRIONS EVOLVE WITHOUT DNA. "Prions are the clearest example of the evolutionary ability of nonliving agents. It is now known that as the abnormal prions replicate, variants can be created. And when those variants are transferred to a new host, natural selection will eventually choose the most virulent and aggressive variants...prions may develop drug resistance." https://lnkd.in/efuQiwq View in LinkedIn

SELF-PROPAGATING. "Prions are proteins that acquire alternative conformations that become self-propagating." (Stanley B. Prisoner, thought leader of prions). Without DNA, this protein has crossed the line of generally accepted definitions of life, and sparks the aspirations of many who wish to make self-propagating and evolving protein robots. https://lnkd.in/e5DP4zX View in LinkedIn

THUS WE LEAVE these strange and exotic creatures whose agricultural skills seem to exceed our own. Other ant societies are equally interesting and curious, and in the future we will visit the stunted parasite queen who rides on her host queen's shoulders like a ghastly She (H. Rider Haggard), while. being fed by her captors. View in LinkedIn

ADAPTION AND EVOLUTION. "Prions may undergo rapid adaptation and evolution in cloned cells and upon crossing the species barrier." The most virulent prion forms are selected by evolutionary pressures. https://lnkd.in/eE_2Z_t View in LinkedIn

LEAFCUTTER ant video. See the hygiene patrol ants dusted in white antibiotic producing filamentous bacteria, and how they were discovered. Lovely story. https://lnkd.in/evrywcT View in LinkedIn

PROTEIN EVOLUTION WITHOUT DNA. "In viruses, mutation is linked to changes in nucleic acid sequence that leads to resistance. Now, this adaptability has moved one level down – to prions and protein folding – and it’s clear that you do not need nucleic acid for the process of evolution.” https://lnkd.in/eR_TbTu View in LinkedIn