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A Truly Alive Virus

Posted by michael on from the cross-breed dept.

cyclop writes "Microbiologists are puzzled by the genome sequence of the giant Mimivirus. It seems this virus has even more genes than many bacteria, is able to synthesize its own proteins and therefore is, by definition, alive. 'We are seeing an organism here. There is DNA, RNA and plenty of proteins,' says Didier Raoult, who reports the work in this week's Science."

2 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Evolution proof ? by Jesrad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This virus is not yet self-reproducting, but I think it might just evolve a bit more and complete that last step. It's a nice demonstration of evolution in action, I think.

    --
    Maybe we deserve this world ?
    1. Re:Evolution proof ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting


      This virus is not yet self-reproducting, but I think it might just evolve a bit more and complete that last step. It's a nice demonstration of evolution in action, I think.

      Perhaps it was once a bacterium which lost its selfreproductivity in a bid to maximize parasitivity.