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

[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.