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STRANGE as viruses and their offspring may seem, there is yet another universe of strange bits of viral genetic replication information floating around. These pieces of DNA code include: transposons, endogenous retroviral elements (ERVs), and other exotica in this marvelous freaky zoo. Some are autonomous and self-replicating strands of information. Some are not. View in LinkedIn

RNA SILENCING COMMONALITIES. "The critical common components of the paradigm are that (i) the inducer is the dsRNA, (ii) the target RNA is degraded in a homology-dependent fashion, and...(iii) the degradative machinery requires a set of proteins which are similar in structure and function across most organisms." https://lnkd.in/eity6gi View in LinkedIn

ANCIENT PROCESSES. "Specific gene silencing has been shown to be related to two ancient processes, cosuppression in plants and quelling in fungi, and has also been associated with regulatory processes such as transposon silencing, antiviral defense mechanisms, gene regulation, and chromosomal modification." https://lnkd.in/eity6gi View in LinkedIn

PRION PROTEIN FOLDING, or its 3D structure, conveys enough information to change a normal cellular protein into an infectious prion particle. As such, it is a protein gene, a rather controversial concept. https://lnkd.in/e3uKvuP View in LinkedIn

VIRAL SUPPRESSORS OF RNA SILENCING and the inevitable counter-defense. "VSRs efficiently inhibit host antiviral responses by interacting with the key components of cellular silencing machinery, often mimicking their normal cellular functions." https://lnkd.in/eaZgcEZ View in LinkedIn

MULTIPLE PHASES = INFORMATION. "Anything is a source of information if it has a range of possible states, and one variable carries information about another to the extent that their states are physically correlated." https://lnkd.in/espyFHA View in LinkedIn

VERY UNUSUAL. "The infection and replication of viruses in the host induce diverse mechanisms for combating viral infection. One of the best-studied antiviral defence mechanisms is based on RNA silencing. Consistently, several viral suppressors of RNA silencing (VSRs) have been identified from almost all plant virus genera, which are surprisingly diverse within and across kingdoms, exhibiting no obvious sequence similarities." https://lnkd.in/eaZgcEZ View in LinkedIn

CHANGES OF STATE. "For Shannon, anything is a source of information if it has a number of alternative states that might be realized on a particular occasion. And any other variable carries information about the source of its state is correlated with that of the source." This is at the heart of programmable inert matter. https://lnkd.in/eHPWXiJ View in LinkedIn

SILENCING CONSERVED. "RNA silencing is a conserved sequence-specific gene regulation system, which has an essential role in the development and maintenance of genome integrity in a wide variety of organisms. In higher plants and insects, RNA silencing also operates as an adaptive inducible antiviral defence mechanism." (Good review). https://lnkd.in/eaZgcEZ View in LinkedIn

NOT JUST GENES. "Single proteins contain internal information channels" as shown by biological sender-receiver analysis in single allosteric molecules." https://lnkd.in/eJc-Z-m View in LinkedIn