Horizontal gene transfer HGT...

[Jan Panteltje]

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

 

[John Larkin]

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

 

[Anthony William Sloman]

On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 9:07:20 PM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <al...@comet.invalid
wrote:
Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

Because you don\'t know what you are stealing. As with every evolved improvement, loads of organisms have been killed off by random thefts that delivered a lethal disaster.

Once the improved design exists, everybody can see that it is worth stealing. Creating the improved design by random variation creates a lot more examples that don\'t work as well as the original. Actual design involves seeing a way that the circuit could work better, and inventing a way to let it work that way.

I shouldn\'t need to have to spell that out here. but some people don\'t seem to be aware of it.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

 

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
<jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
<lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69bm1m9vr7b48kjeva9@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.
Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..
OK ;-)

 

[Anthony William Sloman]

On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 9:56:16 PM UTC+10, Jan Panteltje wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jla...@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69...@4ax.com>:
On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <al...@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.
Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..
OK ;-)

End up bird-brained?

A DNA sequence worth transferring is essentially the design of a protein. Most DNA sequences are more about what to do with a protein once you\'ve got it, but instruction about how to use a protein you haven\'t got aren\'t much use.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

 

[Dimiter_Popoff]

On 7/2/2023 15:18, Anthony William Sloman wrote:

On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 9:56:16 PM UTC+10, Jan Panteltje wrote:
On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jla...@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69...@4ax.com>:
On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <al...@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.
Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..
OK ;-)

End up bird-brained?

A DNA sequence worth transferring is essentially the design of a protein. Most DNA sequences are more about what to do with a protein once you\'ve got it, but instruction about how to use a protein you haven\'t got aren\'t much use.

Or find yourself on \"The Island of Dr. Moreau\"...

 

[Fred Bloggs]

On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 1:42:30 AM UTC-4, Jan Panteltje wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

So do a lot of other processes. Transposons have been in serious study for decades and even used in genetic engineering. But there are barriers:

\" On the other hand, host organisms have developed different mechanisms of defense against high rates of transposon activity, including DNA-methylation to reduce TE expression [30-33], several RNA interference mediated mechanisms [34] mainly in the germ line [35, 36], or through the inactivation of transposon activity by the action of specific proteins [37-39].\"

And transposons can cause deletions in the DNA as easily as insertions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874221/

 

[Joe Gwinn]

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:56:07 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69bm1m9vr7b48kjeva9@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.
Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..
OK ;-)

The article is kinda breathless, but the smaller the critter the more
common HGT is. It\'s also used to transfer RNA.

The whole concept of Species becomes elusive in the old families of
microscopic unicellular critters.

Joe Gwinn

 

[John Larkin]

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:56:07 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69bm1m9vr7b48kjeva9@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.

Exactly. That\'s why so many species share useful features. Some
critter pays a lot to evolve something that gives it an advantage, and
all its neighbors, including its predators and competitors, swipe it.

Which suggests a species will tend to evolve features that are hard to
steal. Trade secrets. Even poison pills, trans-species genetic
warfare.

>Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..

Start clucking?

>OK ;-)

 

[John Larkin]

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 09:47:27 -0400, Joe Gwinn <joegwinn@comcast.net>
wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:56:07 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69bm1m9vr7b48kjeva9@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.
Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..
OK ;-)

The article is kinda breathless, but the smaller the critter the more
common HGT is. It\'s also used to transfer RNA.

The whole concept of Species becomes elusive in the old families of
microscopic unicellular critters.

Joe Gwinn

There\'s fame and fortune in identifying new species, which is why
there are so many. One of my brats had named about 60 species of
native bees, but none are named for me!

 

[John Larkin]

On Sun, 2 Jul 2023 06:06:41 -0700 (PDT), Fred Bloggs
<bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote:

On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 1:42:30?AM UTC-4, Jan Panteltje wrote:
Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

So do a lot of other processes. Transposons have been in serious study for decades and even used in genetic engineering. But there are barriers:

\" On the other hand, host organisms have developed different mechanisms of defense against high rates of transposon activity, including DNA-methylation to reduce TE expression [30-33], several RNA interference mediated mechanisms [34] mainly in the germ line [35, 36], or through the inactivation of transposon activity by the action of specific proteins [37-39].\"

And transposons can cause deletions in the DNA as easily as insertions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874221/

Like mutation, gene swapping is useful, even necessary, but in
moderation.

 

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (Sun, 2 Jul 2023 06:06:41 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Fred Bloggs
<bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote in
<9172ea23-6a39-4ae5-8e4b-e8e26e20ba02n@googlegroups.com>:

On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 1:42:30 AM UTC-4, Jan Panteltje wrote:
Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

So do a lot of other processes. Transposons have been in serious study for =
decades and even used in genetic engineering. But there are barriers:

\" On the other hand, host organisms have developed different mechanisms of =
defense against high rates of transposon activity, including DNA-methylatio=
n to reduce TE expression [30-33], several RNA interference mediated mechan=
isms [34] mainly in the germ line [35, 36], or through the inactivation of =
transposon activity by the action of specific proteins [37-39].\"

And transposons can cause deletions in the DNA as easily as insertions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874221/

Yes, lots of info there
There also was recently and article on sciencedaily.com that found many purposes for what they call \'junk DNA\'
seems it is not so much junk after all, but has a real function.
It is an interesting field.
Still a bit to go before I can make my own dino..

 

[Joe Gwinn]

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 07:39:40 -0700, John Larkin
<jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 09:47:27 -0400, Joe Gwinn <joegwinn@comcast.net
wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:56:07 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69bm1m9vr7b48kjeva9@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.
Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..
OK ;-)

The article is kinda breathless, but the smaller the critter the more
common HGT is. It\'s also used to transfer RNA.

The whole concept of Species becomes elusive in the old families of
microscopic unicellular critters.

Joe Gwinn

There\'s fame and fortune in identifying new species, which is why
there are so many. One of my brats had named about 60 species of
native bees, but none are named for me!

Because you\'re a beaver?

Joe Gwinn

 

[Joe Gwinn]

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 15:44:32 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 2 Jul 2023 06:06:41 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Fred Bloggs
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote in
9172ea23-6a39-4ae5-8e4b-e8e26e20ba02n@googlegroups.com>:

On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 1:42:30 AM UTC-4, Jan Panteltje wrote:
Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

So do a lot of other processes. Transposons have been in serious study for =
decades and even used in genetic engineering. But there are barriers:

\" On the other hand, host organisms have developed different mechanisms of =
defense against high rates of transposon activity, including DNA-methylatio=
n to reduce TE expression [30-33], several RNA interference mediated mechan=
isms [34] mainly in the germ line [35, 36], or through the inactivation of =
transposon activity by the action of specific proteins [37-39].\"

And transposons can cause deletions in the DNA as easily as insertions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874221/

Yes, lots of info there
There also was recently and article on sciencedaily.com that found many purposes for what they call \'junk DNA\'
seems it is not so much junk after all, but has a real function.
It is an interesting field.
Still a bit to go before I can make my own dino..

It was called junk DNA because they didn\'t know what it did, or even
that it did anything at all. It turned out to be the control system
that decides what proteins to make when and where.

Joe Gwinn

 

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 07:36:31 -0700) it happened John Larkin
<jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
<bf23ai989gkmb499vr1g50mgjetoa6afvv@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:56:07 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69bm1m9vr7b48kjeva9@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.

Exactly. That\'s why so many species share useful features. Some
critter pays a lot to evolve something that gives it an advantage, and
all its neighbors, including its predators and competitors, swipe it.

Which suggests a species will tend to evolve features that are hard to
steal. Trade secrets. Even poison pills, trans-species genetic
warfare.

Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..

Start clucking?

This already happened, many of the earthlings do
but as I have read storks deliver human babies,
then if you are lucky and you get stork genes you could deliver your own kids.

 

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 12:53:04 -0400) it happened Joe Gwinn
<joegwinn@comcast.net> wrote in <1oa3ait57jkcknti5v1g708tcseh8hq0tt@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 15:44:32 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 2 Jul 2023 06:06:41 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Fred Bloggs
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote in
9172ea23-6a39-4ae5-8e4b-e8e26e20ba02n@googlegroups.com>:

On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 1:42:30 AM UTC-4, Jan Panteltje wrote:
Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

So do a lot of other processes. Transposons have been in serious study for =
decades and even used in genetic engineering. But there are barriers:

\" On the other hand, host organisms have developed different mechanisms of =
defense against high rates of transposon activity, including DNA-methylatio=
n to reduce TE expression [30-33], several RNA interference mediated mechan=
isms [34] mainly in the germ line [35, 36], or through the inactivation of =
transposon activity by the action of specific proteins [37-39].\"

And transposons can cause deletions in the DNA as easily as insertions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874221/

Yes, lots of info there
There also was recently and article on sciencedaily.com that found many purposes for what they call \'junk DNA\'
seems it is not so much junk after all, but has a real function.
It is an interesting field.
Still a bit to go before I can make my own dino..

It was called junk DNA because they didn\'t know what it did, or even
that it did anything at all. It turned out to be the control system
that decides what proteins to make when and where.

This was on sciencedaily today
How the motion of DNA controls gene activity:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193228.htm

Physics applied!

 

[John Larkin]

On Mon, 03 Jul 2023 04:20:48 GMT, Jan Panteltje
<pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 07:36:31 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
bf23ai989gkmb499vr1g50mgjetoa6afvv@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:56:07 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69bm1m9vr7b48kjeva9@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.

Exactly. That\'s why so many species share useful features. Some
critter pays a lot to evolve something that gives it an advantage, and
all its neighbors, including its predators and competitors, swipe it.

Which suggests a species will tend to evolve features that are hard to
steal. Trade secrets. Even poison pills, trans-species genetic
warfare.

Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..

Start clucking?

This already happened, many of the earthlings do
but as I have read storks deliver human babies,
then if you are lucky and you get stork genes you could deliver your own kids.

Kids love stork nuggets.

 

[Anthony William Sloman]

On Monday, July 3, 2023 at 12:36:40 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:56:07 GMT, Jan Panteltje <al...@comet.invalid
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jla...@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69...@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <al...@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.
Exactly. That\'s why so many species share useful features. Some
critter pays a lot to evolve something that gives it an advantage, and
all its neighbors, including its predators and competitors, swipe it.

They don\'t. They don\'t chose to get infected by any virus, and those that do get infected by an invading virus mostly get sick and die.
When the viral infection dumps extra DNA into their genome and the survive long enough to reproduce the effect is mostly damaging to the the fitness of the offspring.

There no volition in any of this, merely very rare instances of dumb good luck.

> Which suggests a species will tend to evolve features that are hard to steal. Trade secrets. Even poison pills, trans-species genetic warfare.

It might suggest that to somebody who didn\'t have a clue about what was actually going on.

Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..
Start clucking?

OK ;-)

The sort of virus that frequently infects us that is also common in birds is influenza. No gene transfer and a lot of sneezing.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

 

[Anthony William Sloman]

On Monday, July 3, 2023 at 12:41:40 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:

On Sun, 2 Jul 2023 06:06:41 -0700 (PDT), Fred Bloggs
bloggs.fred...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 1:42:30?AM UTC-4, Jan Panteltje wrote:
Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

So do a lot of other processes. Transposons have been in serious study for decades and even used in genetic engineering. But there are barriers:

\" On the other hand, host organisms have developed different mechanisms of defense against high rates of transposon activity, including DNA-methylation to reduce TE expression [30-33], several RNA interference mediated mechanisms [34] mainly in the germ line [35, 36], or through the inactivation of transposon activity by the action of specific proteins [37-39].\"

And transposons can cause deletions in the DNA as easily as insertions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874221/

Like mutation, gene swapping is useful, even necessary, but in moderation.

Evolution does depend on heritable changes appearing between generations, and to that extent mutations and gene swapping are necessary. Almost every change is for the worst, because they are random changes, so there is evolutionary pressure to minimise the number of changes.

If we ever get to the point of being able to do intelligent design - which presumably includes setting up a biological equivalent of LTSpice - we could probably junk the random mutation feature, or at least monitor embryo\'s early for dangerous mutations and abort before care started getting expensive.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

 

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 21:53:42 -0700) it happened John Larkin
<jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
<o1l4ai5l312pnnm2856bipr0fe8a3hff1n@4ax.com>:

On Mon, 03 Jul 2023 04:20:48 GMT, Jan Panteltje
pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 07:36:31 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
bf23ai989gkmb499vr1g50mgjetoa6afvv@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:56:07 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

On a sunny day (Sun, 02 Jul 2023 04:07:04 -0700) it happened John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote in
lgm2ai5c4eqqnjk69bm1m9vr7b48kjeva9@4ax.com>:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:42:22 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid
wrote:

Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT
Virus-like transposons wage war on the species barrier
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230629193248.htm

Wow!

Sure, why reinvent a complex mechanism when you can steal the design?

What he article says in my understanding is that viruses can spread DNA sequences among their hosts
so you can get capabilities from a totally different species.

Exactly. That\'s why so many species share useful features. Some
critter pays a lot to evolve something that gives it an advantage, and
all its neighbors, including its predators and competitors, swipe it.

Which suggests a species will tend to evolve features that are hard to
steal. Trade secrets. Even poison pills, trans-species genetic
warfare.

Now if you got infected by that sort of virus that had been in birds, maybe if you ..

Start clucking?

This already happened, many of the earthlings do
but as I have read storks deliver human babies,
then if you are lucky and you get stork genes you could deliver your own kids.

Kids love stork nuggets.

Some German guy is selling German bratwurst in India, was on German TV yesterday,
he says he cannot meat^H^H^H^H meet demand, it is a hit,
uses only pig meat, cows are holy there,
so there is a business opportunity there it seems.