"Andromeda DNA?" Discovery Shows 8% of Human Genome from Viruses

'The next great war will start inside us. In the next stage of evolution, mankind is history'.
Greg Bear, Darwin's Radio

Michael Crichton would love this discovery: new research showed that about eight percent of human genetic material comes from a virus and not from our ancestors, according to researchers in Japan and the U.S. The genomes of humans and other mammals contain DNA derived from the insertion of bornaviruses, RNA viruses whose replication and transcription takes place in the nucleus. Research led by Professor Keizo Tomonaga at Osaka University in Japan shows virally transmitted DNA may be a cause of mutation and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders.

Thh findings have been published in an article by University of Texas at Arlington biology professor Cédric Feschotte in the Jan. 7, 2010 issue of Nature magazine. Feschotte speculates about the role of such viral insertions in causing mutations with evolutionary and medical consequences. The assimilation of viral sequences into the host genome is a process referred to as endogenization, which occurs when viral DNA integrates into a chromosome of reproductive cells and is subsequently passed from parent to offspring. Until now, retroviruses were the only viruses known to generate such endogenous copies in vertebrates. But Feschotte said that scientists have found that non-retroviral viruses called bornaviruses have been endogenized repeatedly in mammals throughout evolution.

Bornavirus (BDV) owes its name to the town of Borna, Germany, where a virus epidemic in 1885 wiped out a regiment of cavalry horses. BDV infects a range of birds and mammals, including humans. It is unique because it infects only neurons, establishing a persistent infection in its host's brain, and its entire life cycle takes place in the nucleus of the infected cells.

This intimate association of bornavirus with the cell nucleus prompted researchers to investigate whether bornaviruses may have left behind a record of past infection in the form of endogenous elements. They searched the 234 known eukaryotic genomes (those genomes that have been fully sequenced) for sequences that are similar to that of BDV. "The researchers unearthed a plethora of endogenous Borna-like N (EBLN) elements in many diverse mammals, " Feschotte said.

The scientists also were able to recover spontaneous bornavirus insertions in the chromosomes of human cultured cells persistently infected by BVD.Based on these data, Feschotte proposes that BDV insertions could be a source of mutations in the brain cells of infected individuals.

"These data yield a testable hypothesis for the alleged, but still controversial, causative association of BDV infection with schizophrenia and mood disorders," Feschotte said.

The research in Feschotte ‘s laboratory largely focuses on transposable elements, the genetic elements that are able to move and replicate within the genomes of virtually all living organisms.

Not all scientists consider the link between Borna virus and human psychiatric disease to be conclusively proven. A recent study found no borna virus antibodies in 62 patients with the deficit form of schizophrenia

Casey Kazan

Source:

http://www.uta.edu/ucomm/mediarelations/press/2010/01/genome-biologist-reports.php

www.nature.com and visit http://www.nature.com/nature/journal for the 

Comments

[Vince]

Maybe they should look for this in annoyingly happy people. Makes sense to me.

[Vince]

Or the opposite. The apathetic. Specifically the social psychopaths among us.

[Vince]

The psychopath angle makes more sense. Like the bodysnatchers movie. Survival.

[J]

I'm not denying the validity of this article, but just want to point something out as layperson's appear to be unaware of the actual implications. So I will point out some very basic things lest a bunch of conspiracy theorists go around claiming that we are servants of viruses.

Viruses don't just sometimes affect our DNA, but our DNA gets into viruses. In short, the process can be two way and it's very difficult to track exactly what DNA really comes from where. Viral DNA comes from somewhere and sometimes from animals. Of this 8% of viral DNA it's quite difficult to determine how the virus got it. It's all a big muddled up mess.

The best way to look at it in such a context is that viruses are inadvertently acting as a kind of cross-species/universal form of sex (genetic exchange). The is no intention involved, they are just another source of mutation in the same way radiation is, faulty cell division, foreign chemical interference (poison), anything that causes cancer, etc. With the slight difference in that the mutations are likely to be less fatal and more interesting due to coming from a living source.

Well I hope pointing this out will stop matter of fact idiots trying to be clever claiming that that statistic has wild and bizarre "spectacular" implications that have nothing to do with anything an are about as scientific as Harry Potter. But it probably wont.

PS: It's not some kind of government plot either.
PPS: It's not some kind of alien plot to make us more like them using viruses to change our DNA such as in X-Files. In case anyone didn't now, X-Files is actually fiction.

[Bucky]

Agent Smith was right, we are a disease, a virus the planet is trying to rid itself of.

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[Bea]

Interesting theory. And, in recent years, I have known so many more people who've developed brain tumours, and, I've been wondering what could possibly be a connective reason. This could be a potential causative factor? And, not something the average pathologist would be looking for? Hmmm.....

Oh, and as for yesterday's fiction, sometimes it becomes tomorrow's fact, and, sometimes, yesterday's fact becomes tomorrow's fiction. Historically speaking, it's far better for scientists of all persuasions to keep an open mind about what a fact actually is. Fact like everything in life, is not static. And, it borrows as it goes along from many sources. The sooner we're consciously aware of this "fact", the quicker our progress and evolution will be!

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Historically speaking, it's far better for scientists of all persuasions to keep an open

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