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INDEPENDENT GOALS. "The complexities of plasmid characteristics have led some biologists to describe them as ‘subcellular organisms’ or endosymbionts with distinct autonomy from their host. Plasmids are often described as selfish in the same way that other genetic elements are because they encode genes that are not essential for the host and may impose fitness costs." https://lnkd.in/e7VVjkg View in LinkedIn

SELF-REPLICATING PLASMIDS. "Many are mobile genetic elements that direct their own transmission to new host cells during conjugation (the unicellular equivalent of sex), thereby spreading themselves to closely related and evolutionarily distant prokaryotes. They are then transmitted vertically, from mother to daughter cells." https://lnkd.in/e7VVjkg View in LinkedIn

PLASMID PARASITES. "Plasmids are circular, double-stranded DNA (g) molecules that are separate from a cell’s chromosomal DNA. These extrachromosomal DNAs, which occur naturally in bacteria, yeast, and some higher eukaryotic cells, exist in a parasitic or symbiotic relationship with their host cell." https://lnkd.in/eukBn2t View in LinkedIn

AUTONOMOUS REPLICATORS. "Conjugative (horizontally transmissible) plasmids are autonomous replicators, whose "self-interests" do not necessarily overlap with those of their hosts. This situation causes plasmids and bacteria to sometimes experience differing selection pressures." https://lnkd.in/ex7Abte View in LinkedIn

OPEN SOURCE EVOLUTION, by mobile genetic elements. "Recent work shows promise of improved mobile genetic element (MGE) genomics and consequent opportunities to take advantage — and avoid the dangers — of these 'natural genetic engineers'." https://lnkd.in/eUjKi_t View in LinkedIn

VITAMIN C AND COLDS. "Pauling suggested that ingestion of 1–2 g of ascorbic acid effectively prevents/ ameliorate common cold. The role of oral vitamin C in the prevention and treatment of colds remains controversial despite many controlled trials. Several clinical trails with varying doses of ascorbic acid showed that ascorbic acid does not have significant prophylactic effect, but reduced the severity and duration of symptoms of cold during the period of infection." https://lnkd.in/ehzFPvw View in LinkedIn

VITAMIN C AND IRON. "The average intake of supplemental ascrobic acid in this population was 280 mg daily. If taken only with breakfast, this level of supplementation would produce a nearly 2-fold increase in the amount of iron absorbed daily. If taken in divided doses with each mean, the increase in iron absorption would be more than 3-fold." https://lnkd.in/eF6eYjS View in LinkedIn

IRON SUPPLEMENTS. "Clinical trials which were performed to supplement iron to children in developing countries based on the notion that iron deficiency is associated with growth and mental retardation produced unpredicted results. These studies demonstrated that iron supplementation resulted in higher incidence of or higher mortality from infections such as malaria, diarrhea or bacterial meningitis." https://lnkd.in/eBzy3XB View in LinkedIn

SEPARATE SELECTION. " Plasmids genes are in fact under differential selection while moving through the prokaryotic community, and consequently, they frequently gain and lose genes, revealing a very dynamic organization. This flexibility is mostly due to the abundance of transposable elements they harbor and that facilitate intra- and intermolecular recombination by creating homology regions. Moreover, plasmids can be both vertically and horizontally inherited in a prokaryotic community." http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-10-59 View in LinkedIn

FEEDING THE BEAST. "Iron injections into animals infected with virulent bacteria result in increased death rates, and parenteral iron administration to human infants predisposes them to fatal septicemia." https://lnkd.in/e9yjFnc View in LinkedIn