Study adds to evidence that viruses are alive

A new analysis supports the hypothesis that viruses are living entities that share a long evolutionary history with cells, researchers report. The study offers the first reliable method for tracing viral evolution back to ...

First accurate simulation of a virus invading a cell

For the first time, scientists know what happens to a virus' shape when it invades a host cell, thanks to an experiment by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Understanding ...

The most common organism in the oceans harbors a virus in its DNA

The most common organism in the oceans, and possibly on the entire planet, is a family of single-celled marine bacteria called SAR11. These drifting organisms look like tiny jelly beans and have evolved to outcompete other ...

How a protein stops cells from attacking their own DNA

Viruses multiply by injecting their DNA into a host cell. Once it enters the intracellular fluid, this foreign material triggers a defense mechanism known as the cGAS-STING pathway. The protein cyclic GMP-AMP Synthase (cGAS), ...

How viruses hijack a host's energy supply

Viruses occupy a strange no-man's-land between the living and the nonliving. In order to reproduce, they must infect a living host and hijack its resources. But while it is understood that this parasitic relationship can ...

Parasitic plants use stolen genes to make them better parasites

Some parasitic plants steal genetic material from their host plants and use the stolen genes to more effectively siphon off the host's nutrients. A new study led by researchers at Penn State and Virginia Tech reveals that ...

These molecules could trap viruses inside a cell

Viruses are often used as vehicles for delivery in gene therapy because they're engineered not to damage the cell once they get there, but neglecting to consider how the virus will exit the cell could have consequences.

Unexpected viral 'fossils' found in vertebrate genomes

Over millions of years, retroviruses, which insert their genetic material into the host genome as part of their replication, have left behind bits of their genetic material in vertebrate genomes. In a recent study, published ...

Study identifies how RNA viruses hijack a host cell to multiply

(Phys.org) -- By discovering how certain viruses use their host cells to replicate, UC Irvine microbiologists have identified a new approach to the development of universal treatments for viral illnesses such as meningitis, ...

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