Unexpected Inheritance: Human Genome Contains Ebola Virus Sequences

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

During an ebola outbreak in the 90's, i was watching a show that suggested that ebola originates from soil or some other such environmental source where intermittent activity causes illness.

I don't know much about ebola. It makes you bleed out of your nipples, which sounds rather unpleasant.

Eeeuuw. ...Ebola hasn't been researched much. Hopefully that will change. But every culture in our world has myths about the dangers of trespassing in ancient places. Modern biologists warn about microbes hidden in melting ice and the like. Seems obvious there are ancient viruses and other microbes in ancient places. Invade their habitats at your own risk.

....The soil reservoir hypothesis seems as good as the fruit bat reservoir one. Many of the rainforest jungles are "ancient" and untouched, maybe some areas were avoided by locals on guidance by legend. ....All the "modern" disruption and habitat destruction is bound to have some effect.

reply to post by soficrow


Maybe some viruses didn't originate or evolve on earth at all.

?

reply to post by ausername


No doubt. The whole idea of primordial soup has to refer to the universe as environment. And just as biology is beginning to understand how environment-controls-epigenetic-mechanisms-which-then-control-gene-expression, I have no doubt the effects of the universal environment will eventually be accommodated into the paradigm. Ancient philosophies like astrology took a stab at it, but some day various astro- factors and systemic effects will be quantified, measured and elucidated.

reply to post by soficrow

Yes.
'If' it is an ancient virus, why was it not occuring in the manner of measles, chicken pox, flu............?
I have no means of checking whether ebola exists in this dna form that is claimed, hence, I must hold fire on judgement but this world is controlled by 'half truths' hence no one would want to be responsible to 'creating', 'activating', 'reactivating' such an horrific virus.

reply to post by soficrow


That is an interesting point about ancient sites.


Think about it: how many ancient sites were vacated/depopulated due to disease? How good would we be at detecting it?

reply to post by Elliot


I thrive on "conspiracy theories" and consider them a truer kind of "folk history" than the pap offered up by the MSM. When it comes to biology though, I get concerned that the paranoia goes in the wrong direction - we should be looking at the unintended systemic effects initiated by human intervention as well as the impacts of purposeful evil.

Just discovered this delightful blog by Maia Majumder. Here are the last 2 paragraphs of her last entry.

How #Ebola2014 Got to Guinea

......Because Guinea is considered a habitable environment for two of the three Ebola-carrying species, the infected migrant bats would likely have assimilated pretty quickly… And in their daily activities – namely, fighting and sexual contact – they would have been able to pass the virus on to the “local” members of their species, eventually meeting the 5% threshold deemed necessary for humans to contract the disease [5]. When paired with common cultural practices of consuming bats and bushmeat, it becomes clear why the population was particularly vulnerable to this brand of zoonosis [9]… And now that the virus has been introduced among local reservoir populations, it’s uncertain whether Guinea will ever truly be rid of it.

No outbreak is an island; it lives within an ecosystem that is much larger than the virus, the patients, and the communities affected. Managing #Ebola2014 and its aftermath will require significant capacity across multiple disciplines – not only from public health and medicine, but also from policy, zoology, and environmental science. The jury’s still out on exactly how Ebola got to Guinea, but deforestation and animal migration are compelling candidates that may be key to preventing further geographic expansion of this deadly disease.

—Maia Majumder, MPH

Also see:

Why We Should Care About #Ebola2014

Ed. to add:

On the other hand, I know global corporate interests are still lined up to rape and pillage Africa, and they resent the "natives" interfering with their right to profit. I have no doubt these same global corporate interests would love to speed up the process, remove the "obstacles," and probably would be stupid enough to loose an untreatable plague.

Corporate communications strategists are already floating the idea that aboriginal guerilla terrorists have the ability to acquire contaminated samples and purposefully infect enemies without infecting themselves in the process. A laughably unlikely scenario, imho. A joke.

BUT - it is both likely and plausible that corporate terrorists would spread Ebola to serve economic takeover(s) - they have the personnel, labs, expertise and motivation. So they release the "blame the aboriginal terrorists" cover story to hide corporate culpability.

Guinea (for starters) is resource rich - and "undeveloped."

Guinea is richly endowed with minerals, possessing an estimated quarter of the world's proven reserves of bauxite,[1] more than 1.8 billion metric tons (2.0 billion short tons) of high-grade iron ore, significant diamond and gold deposits, and undetermined quantities of uranium. Guinea also has considerable potential for growth in the agricultural and fishing sectors. Land, water, and climatic conditions provide opportunities for large-scale irrigated farming and agroindustry.

This paper deals with agricultural corporations but the analysis can be applied to corporations involved in mineral extraction too. Or maybe it's a team effort.

Agricultural Biowarfare and Bioterrorism

...Anti-agricultural biowarfare and bioterrorism differ significantly from the same activities directed against humans; for instance, there exist a variety of possibilities for economic gain for perpetrators, and the list of possible perpetrators includes corporations, which may have state-of-the-art technical expertise. Furthermore, attacks are substantially easier to do: the agents aren’t necessarily hazardous to humans; delivery systems are readily available and unsophisticated; maximum effect may only require a few cases; delivery from outside the target country is possible; and an effective attack can be constructed to appear natural. This constellation of characteristics makes biological attack on the agricultural sector of at least some countries a very real threat, perhaps more so than attack on the civilian population.

Agricultural corporations, including producers, processors, and shippers, could benefit immensely from the economic impacts, market share changes, and financial market effects of a successful biological attack. Many also employ expert plant pathologists or veterinarians and have large collections of pathogens. The combination of motivation, expertise, and materials within a single, closed organization is worrisome.

reply to post by Elliot

'If' it is an ancient virus, why was it not occuring in the manner of measles, chicken pox, flu............?

It's not as virulent - and is specifically a tropical virus. Most likely it went extinct in areas that underwent major cooling during ice ages.

reply to post by soficrow


that's not what I meant- i got called away mid-post so i rushed- i was commenting on the idea of zombies- specifically relating to The Walking Dead (a TV SHOW...are you familiar with it?), using Prions disease as a foundation concept, and then extrapolating it into the realm of sci-fi.

So part of human genetic makeup comes from viruses that kill people in horrific and sometimes bloody ways? Perhaps this kind of explains a bit of human history...

ltinycdancerg
reply to post by soficrow

 

....i was commenting on the idea of zombies- .....using Prions disease as a foundation concept, and then extrapolating it into the realm of sci-fi.

I meant your understanding of prion disease is dead wrong - your info comes from out-of-date damage control info-bites, not current prion science (proteomics, epigenetics). But as a sci-fi premise unrelated to prion disease it's great!

....Just know that if I catch you saying prion disease is caused by cannibalism I'll be all over you. ; )

my theory- TERMINUS is where it all began- generations of cannibalism and inbreeding, caused a mutation in the DNA of one of their children, which reared it's ugly head when this 'subject zero' died, resurrected as a virus personified, and then started inserting its RNA into humanity.

Something very similar exists in other species- ie ants, caterpillars...

ikonoklast
So part of human genetic makeup comes from viruses that kill people in horrific and sometimes bloody ways? Perhaps this kind of explains a bit of human history...

lol. Uh huh. .....Also interesting that tweaking one teenie-tiny little protein can sometimes have such devastating systemic effects. Maybe the violence in human history reflects the micro-contradictions of incomplete or ongoing nano-transformations in our genes, cells and tissues on up? ....I'm actually really good with that take on it.

....So from this perspective, disease is all about the "pain of transformation." Movies like "The Fly" or the werewolf and vampire transformations, TV's "Grimm" - all accurately portray the physical pain involved in assimilating new bits of DNA, and becoming 'different.' Some people cannot take the pain of transformation and succomb. Is that because they fight it?

reply to post by soficrow


When i was about 28 I had a really bad case of the flu. LIps and fingers turning blue kind of flu.

After about 12 days things started to clear up a little, but i was different. I am different. That illness is a clear demarcation of change for me.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Uh oh.

...Kidding. I think you've talked about that before? ...I know my "rebuilt" brain works better, but I need to take another look at illnesses and rethink a bit. Hard, 'cuz I always was one of those people who "never get sick" - now that I'm older, not so much.

....This is important though. Sounds like a project.

Figures in the article show no Ebola in the human genome. They do show Borna virus genes though. Still, a good find. I find the whole concept of bacterial and viral DNA attached to the human genome to be a fascinating subject.

HomoSkepticus
Figures in the article show no Ebola in the human genome. They do show Borna virus genes though. Still, a good find. I find the whole concept of bacterial and viral DNA attached to the human genome to be a fascinating subject.

Good catch. The bats have it.

Natural resistance to currently circulating EBOV and MARV may allow species to serve as asymptomatic reservoirs for these viruses. In microbats, we identified endogenous sequences related to the NP and VP35 genes of these Filoviruses, in addition to the N and L genes of BDV. Bats of different species have been identified as possible natural reservoirs of EBOV and MARV in areas of human outbreaks in Africa [39], [40], [41]. Recent studies confirm that these viruses co-circulate in Gabon, where bats infected by each virus are found. It should now be possible to ask if there is any correlation between the presence and properties of the endogenous sequences in the various bat species and their ability to serve as natural reservoirs for these negative strand RNA viruses.

reply to post by HomoSkepticus

I find the whole concept of bacterial and viral DNA attached to the human genome to be a fascinating subject.

Not to start a silly semantic argument - but - I would say "integrated and assimilated into the human genome," meaning "become an integral part of." ...Do you agree or do you see "attachment" as an external kind of temporary thing that invites the DNA to 'fall off'?

reply to post by soficrow


Ah yes. I see what you mean. Assimilated and integrated would be far more accurate. Thanks for that.

reply to post by HomoSkepticus


I posted this thread quickly and without much thought, shortened the title "to fit" - and made two big errors. Even though you and bigfatfurrytexan pointed out these errors most respectfully, I felt pretty stupid and started avoiding the thread. Wrong. So to get back to it....

It's clear that we integrate viral and bacterial DNA into our genomes as we evolve, not just from our original "template." The main hypotheses that emerge for me:

1. We develop "immunity" when we integrate DNA from a given virus or bacteria;

2. This "integration" serves to harmonize us with the larger environment in a significant, substantial and quantifiable way;

3. Viruses and bacteria thus can be seen as mechanisms that share their adaptations to environmental change with complex organisms; and

4. "Evolution" in this context is a graceful dance of adaptation to a constantly changing environment, characterized by sharing and cooperation between the "lowliest" and "highest" forms of life.


Comments?

soficrow
reply to post by HomoSkepticus

 

I posted this thread quickly and without much thought, shortened the title "to fit" - and made two big errors. Even though you and bigfatfurrytexan pointed out these errors most respectfully, I felt pretty stupid and started avoiding the thread. Wrong. So to get back to it....

It's clear that we integrate viral and bacterial DNA into our genomes as we evolve, not just from our original "template." The main hypotheses that emerge for me:

1. We develop "immunity" when we integrate DNA from a given virus or bacteria;

2. This "integration" serves to harmonize us with the larger environment in a significant, substantial and quantifiable way;

3. Viruses and bacteria thus can be seen as mechanisms that share their adaptations to environmental change with complex organisms; and

4. "Evolution" in this context is a graceful dance of adaptation to a constantly changing environment, characterized by sharing and cooperation between the "lowliest" and "highest" forms of life.


Comments?

This is roughly my understanding as well. Not all viruses are retroviral in nature.

I have had 2 major viral infections. Each of them has left me a different person than before. You recall my first infection story. It was a flu like illness.

The second was shingles. I had it on my face/head. Yes the pain was miserable and everything. But pain is something I tend to do ok with (i was raised like Huck Finn). The flu like symptoms that went with it...that was truly miserable. This illness left me with improved lung function. I had always had compromised pulmonary function. Not bad, mind you...but bad enough that I was "high risk" for pneumonia. Shingles was the last time I had a viral infection that lasted more than a couple days (i suspect i haven't had a viral infection in that time). That was 15 years ago, maybe 16.

"Adaptation" is a rippling effect from the bottom up.

Can't help it.

Bump.