Nature of Viruses

#DNA, #Prion, #Virion, #Viroids, #Virus, #Virusoides #Virology Nature of viruses is unclear, because it is difficult to classify them with in the accepted framework of living or…. Medical Microbiology & Recombinant DNA Technology (RDT) Labs | Read More -

https://micrordt.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/nature-of-viruses/

The more you study #biology, the more you realize how complicated and weird the living world (and our living bodies) are.

Latest discovery is #RNA "obelisks": self-replicating strands of naked RNA that hijack RNA polymerase to make copies of themselves. Unlike RNA #viruses, they don't make a protein coat for themselves, but unlike plant #viroids, it looks like they might actually encode some proteins (likely to encourage RNApol to replicate their sequences).

These things are almost certainly a part of your personal biology, happily replicating themselves without you ever knowing. It's unclear what effects (if any) these things have on their hosts.

It's likely these are echoes of the origin of life, the primitive #RNAworld that predates #DNA and cellular life.

https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/what-s-obelisk-anyway

(Oh, and if you haven't discovered Derek Lowe yet -- welcome to his wonderful world! He's a treasure ... check out his "things I'll never work with" series for a good chuckle.)

A new #virus-like entity has just been discovered—'#obelisks' explained.

#viroids #genomics

https://theconversation.com/a-new-virus-like-entity-has-just-been-discovered-obelisks-explained-222296

#HardScience

https://futurism.com/videos/watch-the-smallest-pathogens-on-earth/

#Watch: The #Smallest #Pathogens on #Earth
Potato spindle tuber disease wasn’t a life-or-death situation, but it led to the discovery of viroids.

#potato #spindle #tuber #viroids