Scientists find Megavirus

[frankiej]

My super-villian name is MegaVirus... Damn it, they are on to me...

[Welsh cake]

You dig up some great news WC.

Glad to help!

Wait... What about fucking jesus?!!!

He's a virus that attacks the brain, gradually making mankind stupider and more ignorant with each passing generation.

Viruses have undoubtedly played some role in the history evolution. Noted biologist Lynn Margulis (use to be Carl Sagan’s wife), the mother of endosymbiotic theory, has shown us that horizontal gene transfer was a big part of evolution. It is hard to imagine that viruses have not played an important role in our evolution considering that about 10% of human DNA consists of viral insertions. Margulis is on record as saying she believes horizontal transfer is probably at least as important to evolution as natural selection. That’s a controversial position, but so was her stance on endosymbiotic theory when she first published on it in the 60’s.

So...in a manner of speaking viruses had gene-sex with us and still are as we speak? Inserting a small part of them into us over and over again, that should the cell not produce viruses as its instructed to but the viral DNA remains can either cause benign or malignant mutations, the worst being cancer for example? Of course its debatable as to whether cancer is caused by a virus since there are multiple causes and factors not to mention HPV (Human papillomavirus) strain can cause tumours that'll become cancerous given enough time.

From what I understand within abiogenesis there's an ongoing debate as to whether viruses are either the driving force behind evolution forcing organisms to change and adapt or go extinct trying, much like natural selection, or if in fact viruses are directly causing evolution, by rewriting our DNA they've changed us in a small way. I wonder which viruses are responsible for us if this were the case? The human rhinovirus? Could curing the common cold be detrimental to the human species in the long run because we'd stop evolving if viruses are responsible for it?

If we look at rock wallabies scientists noticed their mutations from one generation to the next were abnormally high, a virus apparently was forcing their species to undergo changes within thousands of years that would normally take them millions of years to evolve at the "natural" rate. Viruses are killers, but I still can't help but be fascinated by them. :>