This is evidenced by the results of a new study
About a third of the proteins that distinguish modern humans from monkeys have become what they are now, either under the influence of viruses or as a result of fighting them. Thus, microorganisms, which most scientists do not recognize as a form of life in the full sense of the word, played one of the key, and probably the central role in the formation of the "current" person, according to a group of experts led by David Enard from Stanford University.
Viruses are infectious agents that can reproduce exclusively inside living cells, using the resources of these cells to create their own copies. Some types of these microorganisms can directly affect the carrier's DNA, "embedding" new regions in it.
Biologists note that the significant influence of viruses on the course of evolution has been known for a long time. This is especially evident during large epidemics, during which the organisms that have managed to resist infection or, on the contrary, effectively "coexist" with the virus, in some cases even benefitting from it, get the greatest chances of surviving and leaving offspring. However, the results of the new study force us to take a fresh look at how actively viruses are guiding the evolution of various living things, including humans.
Experts have studied the structure of about 1.3 thousand proteins, one way or another, physically interacting with viruses after the evolutionary branches of humans and chimpanzees diverged. Not all of these cells were part of the immune system, the researchers note. Based on the information received, a special algorithm was compiled, which made it possible to find out that proteins and genes associated with the reaction to the presence of viruses in the process of evolution were transformed three times faster than the rest. According to scientists, this allows one to come to the conclusion that it is viruses that are "responsible" for about 30 percent of the changes that the human genome has undergone in a relatively recent time, and we are talking about the most diverse changes.
Scientists have published a scientific article on their research in the journal eLife.
Dmitry Erusalimsky
