Striking evidence has emerged that an ancient virus previously known only from fossil evidence has persistently infected some humans at very low levels for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. This ancient retrovirus ...
Biotechnology
Apr 4, 2016
4
2365
All animals have evolved thanks to the fact that certain viruses infected primitive organisms hundreds of millions of years ago. Viral genetic material was integrated into the genome of the first multi-cellular beings and ...
Evolution
Jan 24, 2024
0
215
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has developed a method for mass producing T cells that have been reprogrammed using stem cell technology to target and destroy cancerous tumors. ...
As the world scrambles to control the growing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, new research in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology shows viruses also play a key evolutionary role in mammals' ability to reproduce and survive.
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 7, 2020
1
281
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 ...
Biotechnology
Jul 29, 2010
1
0
The koala retrovirus (KoRV) is a virus which, like other retroviruses such as HIV, inserts itself into the DNA of an infected cell. At some point in the past 50,000 years, KoRV has infected the egg or sperm cells of koalas, ...
Ecology
Feb 26, 2021
2
561
Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are viruses that at some point in the past inserted themselves into the nuclear genome of a host's germ cell. Once integrated in a germ cell the virus would be passed on from one generation ...
Ecology
Jul 15, 2013
1
0
Viral DNA in human genomes, embedded there from ancient infections, serves as antivirals that protect human cells against certain present-day viruses, according to new research.
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 27, 2022
0
300
Devastated by summer's unprecedented firestorms, Australia's koalas are facing a potentially more serious and enduring existential threat from a fellow mammal—the bat.
Plants & Animals
Apr 14, 2020
0
249
The human genome is riddled with endogenous retroviruses—little pieces of degraded and generally harmless retrovirus DNA passed down through the generations, along with our own genetic information. Because most endogenous ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 6, 2018
0
135
