“Parasites are not only incredibly diverse; they are also incredibly successful. There are parasitic stretches of DNA in your own genes, some of which are called retrotransposons. Many of the parasitic stretches were originally viruses that entered our DNA. Most of them don't do us any harm. They just copy and insert themselves in other parts of our DNA, basically replicating themselves. Sometimes they hop into other species and replicate themselves in a new host. According to one estimate, roughly one-third to one-half of all human DNA is basically parasitic.” HumansSometimesHalfSuccessfulThirdsSpeciesHarmHopsCopiesHostGenesDiverseDnaVirusesParasitesOne HalfInsertReplicate Author:Carl Zimmer
“About 1.2% of the human genome is made up of genes, things that encode for proteins, the stuff that we consider us. There is about 8.3% that's a virus. In other words we're probably about seven times more virus than we are human genes, which is kind of a weird way to thinking about yourself.” ThinkingWayHumansKindMadeStuffSevenAbout YourselfGenesVirusesProteinThinking About YouGenomeThinking About Yourself Author:Carl Zimmer
“Borna virus is not a retrovirus. It doesn't actually insert its own genes into our cells. What it does is just hangs out near our DNA and uses some of the molecular machinery to copy itself.” DoeUseCellsCopiesHanging OutGenesDnaMachineryVirusesInsert Author:Carl Zimmer
“We have Borna virus genes. We're part Borna virus, which is weird, but apparently our cells and our genomes in a weird way might actually be grabbing these viruses, grabbing genetic material from the viruses that are infecting it and pulling them into their own genome.” WayMightMaterialsCellsGenesPullingVirusesGrabbingGenome Author:Carl Zimmer
