Saturday, February 14, 2015

Fewer viral relics may be due to tool-using evolutionary history

The original title appears misleading, as if we were less violent.
I wonder if cooking our food also helped.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/uoo-fvr012915.php

Public Release: 1-Feb-2015
Fewer viral relics may be due to a less bloody evolutionary history
University of Oxford

Humans have fewer remnants of viral DNA in their genes compared to other mammals, a new study has found. This decrease could be because of reduced exposure to blood-borne viruses as humans evolved to use tools rather than biting during violent conflict and the hunting of animals.

Despite natural defence systems, a retrovirus occasionally infects a mammal's egg or sperm, and the virus's genetic code gets incorporated into the animal's own genome. This viral 'fossil' then passes down from generation to generation: we all carry remnants of DNA from viruses that infected our ancestors millions of years ago. These 'endogenous retroviruses' (ERVs) appear not to cause us any harm, even though they are known to result in diseases such as cancer in other animals.

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Using this measure, they found that, compared to other animals, far fewer retroviruses were incorporated into the genome for humans and other apes over the last 10 million years. Even compared to animals very similar to us, humans are unusual in not having acquired any new types of retroviruses into their DNA over the last 30 million years.

One reason for the reduction in retroviral incorporation into the human genome might be a change in behaviour as humans evolved: fewer bloody fights and less exposure to infected meat meant that compared to other animals, our ancestors became less likely to encounter blood, a major route for viral infection.

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