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Quote by 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.”

Author

Carl Zimmer

Carl Zimmer is a renowned science writer, born on July 13, 1966. His work spans a wide range of scientific fields, from biology to environmental science, and is known for its clear and engaging writing style. more

“Over millions of years the viruses in our genome mutate more and more so the look less and less and less recognizable as viruses and so if there was a virus that infected our pre mammal ancestors like 250 million years ago, which it probably did, we can't see it because it just looks totally random.”

Ifs Years Looks Millions Years Ago Ancestor Viruses Mammals Genome

Author:Carl Zimmer

“It used to be thought that only a certain kind of virus could get into our genome and it's called a retrovirus and that's a virus that might be HIV for example.”

Kind Might Used Certain Example Used To Be Viruses Hiv Genome

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.”

Doe Use Cells Copies Hanging Out Genes Dna Machinery Viruses Insert

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.”

Way Might Materials Cells Genes Pulling Viruses Grabbing Genome

Author:Carl Zimmer