“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
“If you're looking for your own idea of your own identity you know the human genome may not be the best place to look for it. You're just looking at a bunch of viruses.” IfsKnowsHumansLooksMayIdeasIdentityBunchBeing The BestVirusesBest PlaceGenome Author:Carl Zimmer
“One of the big challenges now is to figure out just how many viruses there really are in the human genome. So far the estimate is 8.3% of our genome is virus, but it actually could be a lot higher.” HumansBigsChallengesFiguresHigherVirusesBig ChallengesGenome Author:Carl Zimmer
