Posted on 10/05/2017 5:17:19 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Our DNA contains roughly 100,000 pieces of viral DNA. Altogether, they make up about 8 percent of the human genome. And scientists are only starting to figure out what this viral DNA is doing to us.
...
Some of our ancient viruses may be protecting us from disease; others may be raising our risks for cancer, among other conditions. “It’s not an either-or — are these things good or bad? It’s a lot more complicated than that,” Dr. Katzourakis said in an interview. “We’re barely at the beginning of this research.”
Most of our viral DNA comes from one group in particular: retroviruses...
Just as we have defenses against free-living viruses, we have also developed defenses against endogenous retroviruses. Our cells can coat their DNA with molecules that suppress viral genes, for example.
But sometimes these viral genes manage to switch on anyway. In many kinds of tumor cells, for instance, scientists find proteins produced by endogenous retroviruses. That discovery has fueled a long-running debate: Do endogenous retroviruses help cause cancer?
Recent studies suggest they can. A team of French researchers engineered healthy human cells to make a viral protein found in many tumors and watched the cells grow in a petri dish.
The protein caused the cells to behave in some suspiciously cancer-like ways. They changed shape, as cancer cells do, becoming long and skinny. And they also started to move across the dish.
In addition, the viral protein caused the cells to switch on other genes that have been linked to cancer.
But John M. Coffin, a virologist at Tufts University, suspects there’s less to these viral proteins than meets the eyes. He speculates that in many cases, cancer cells make viral proteins only because they are switching on genes willy-nilly — both human and viral genes alike.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Wow! Now who woulda thunk that?
Consider the source.
Always a good reminder.
Y’know, lately I HAVE been saying good night to my wife in bed by saying, OOGA BALOOGA and hitting her over the head with a club.
There was an interesting theory that MS was caused by the herpes virus penetrating the genetic defenses and causing trouble. Don’t know what happened to that one.
MK-Ultra graduate? Operation Midnight Climax, perhaps?
I’m not microbiologist, but it was my understanding years ago that making genetic changes was how viruses operated. That’s the reason they first started using viruses when they were experimenting with controlled genetic changes to people and recombinant DNA. They have better methods now. Viruses have perfected ways to survive immune systems long enough to enter cells, alter them and their DNA, and then replicate. It seems logical that while viruses may be somewhat stable in their adaptative methods for exploiting and beating immune systems with some evolution whenever hosts evolve to beat them, but to vary much more in how they attempt to alter DNA so that whenever one is found to make a better host, it gains more success. And this has been going on for how long? It’s no wonder our human genome is a mess. Any changes that were too immediately detrimental obviously didn’t last because their victims didn’t have a chance to spread it. But everything else...
It would be interesting to see a study of people with different ancestries to determine the variation and effect of the viruses.
This is only a new way to garner more funds for useless research rather than studying the effects of that which we are being exposed to on a daily basis and causing much of our disease state.
We hold our own keys to our destruction and I will be geneticists in the driver’s seat pretending that they know what they are doing.
The viruses are waiting until a signal from the mother ship to burst through like the Sigourney Weaver alien and go on a killing rampage wiping out the entire human race.
This. And as someone who has close ties with the Mother Ship, I can tell you that you all have been walking on thin ice recently.
How did you get a NYT article posted?
I can’t even copy its contents to the clipboard. It’s blocked the mouse somehow...................
In spite of the Slimes posting this article, our personal DNA is probably the most significant factor in our health, good or bad.
Of course life styles and environmental challenges are factors.
About 5 years ago our FP for close to 4 decades retired. He was a big believer in our DNA having a huge factor in our quality of life and length. So, when the bs re the fat in our diet and blood came out, he told my wife and I with our genetic history not to worry about it.
After he retired we went to a good FP, however, on the lipid bs, he was programmed to push the anti lipid drugs, diets and other bs. My wife and I both had ancestors, who lived well into their 80’s and some past 80. My wife’s good lipid levels are in the super good range. A cardio friend said she could probably eat bacon/eggs for breakfast, beef for lunch and a steak for dinner and never have a heart attack.
Last fall before my annual visit, one of my nieces, really into genealogy, discovered my Dad’s family tree. Many males lived into their 80’s. Even more important over a century years ago, many lived to be into their hundreds. Two of my dad’s uncles (which we knew nothing about lived well past 100). She had similar documentations on my mother’s family.
So on my annual visit to my FP last year, when he started the
mandatory spiel to take the anti lipid drugs, I showed him the life spans on both sides of my family.
After he looked at them, he joked I should be selling my blood to those less fortunate.
It was a link from Drudge.
If parents were to "nitrify" their bodies prior to conception, they would eliminate most maladies we face today.
True dat. I took the DNA home testing, and they found ancient virus DNA, but they also found ancient Anacin, so, not worried about it. Thanks BenLurkin.
The Neandertal Enigma"Frayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve
in local libraries
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