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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."

1 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Um, yes... by contagious_d · · Score: 5, Informative

    "This virus has a lot of DNA (the poxvirii do as well), but that does not mean it has a metabolism. Virii use their host's metabolism to produce proteins....."
    I have this funny feeling you didn't RTFA before you decided that this was a worthless story.
    From Nature: "It can make about 150 of its own proteins, along with chemical chaperones to help the proteins to fold in the right way. It can even repair its own DNA if it gets damaged, unlike normal viruses."

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    - /home is where the food is.