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Viral evolution is a subfield of evolutionary biology and virology that is specifically concerned with the evolution of viruses. [1] [2] Viruses have short generation times, and many—in particular RNA viruses—have relatively high mutation rates (on the order of one point mutation or more per genome per round of replication).
The viral eukaryogenesis hypothesis posits that eukaryotes are composed of three ancestral elements: a viral component that became the modern nucleus; a prokaryotic cell (an archaeon according to the eocyte hypothesis) which donated the cytoplasm and cell membrane of modern cells; and another prokaryotic cell (here bacterium) that, by endocytosis, became the modern mitochondrion or chloroplast.
New groups of viruses might have repeatedly emerged at all stages of the evolution of life. [16] There are three major theories about the origins of viruses: [16] [17] Regressive theory Viruses may have once been small cells that parasitised larger cells. Eventually, the genes they no longer needed for a parasitic way of life were lost.
An example would include the ability of the herpes simplex virus, which causes cold sores, to remain in a dormant state within the human body. This is called latency [ 110 ] and is a characteristic of the herpes viruses, including Epstein–Barr virus, which causes glandular fever, and varicella zoster virus , which causes chickenpox and shingles .
The human virome is the total collection of viruses in and on the human body. [1] [2] [3] Viruses in the human body may infect both human cells and other microbes such as bacteria (as with bacteriophages). [4] Some viruses cause disease, while others may be asymptomatic.
The most important aspect of a virus is not whether it’s technically new or simply a variant. It’s the danger that virus poses. Body work: When does a virus grow so much that it gets a new name?
Viral phylodynamics is the study of how epidemiological, immunological, and evolutionary processes act and potentially interact to shape viral phylogenies. [1] Since the term was coined in 2004, research on viral phylodynamics has focused on transmission dynamics in an effort to shed light on how these dynamics impact viral genetic variation.
The study, led by the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, looked at the evolutionary history of bat coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19.