Your Feces Is a Wonderland of Viruses

sciencehabit writes "Thanks to an anlaysis of fecal samples from four sets of Missouri-born female identical twins and their mothers, researchers have concluded that human guts harbor viruses as unique as the people they inhabit; the viral lineup differs even between identical twins. Even more surprising? These viruses may be doing good work inside of us."

Comments

Re:Evolution

[Reilaos]

Well, it's not inside all of us, guessing by the article. It differs between all of us, and besides, people generally think of viruses as bad things. Bacteria, yes, but I can't really think of very useful viruses.

Re:Just be glad you're not an elephant

[sznupi]

Not strictly "born with all these built in" - remember that those who are born naturally have quite prolonged contact of their mouths with mother's vagina/etc., for starters. And IIRC those after caesarean section can show some "irregularities" in bacterial flora.

I even have an impression that dietary preferences might change in some real way, not just by habit & accustomization, after regular close contact with people from slightly different areas...

Re:Evolution

[spun]

I just read a Scientific American article discussing how plants selectively hold on to certain viruses that benefit them. A researcher inoculated tomato plants with mycorrhiza from plants found growing near very hot springs in Yellowstone. Viruses in the mycorrhiza infected the tomatoes, granting them the ability to grow in temperatures up to 140F. Best of all, the plants passed the beneficial viruses on to their offspring in the seed coating.