Virus Stole a Human Gene and Won't Let Go of It (nytimes.com)
60 points by gumby a day ago
pazimzadeh 5 hours ago
Seems par for the course since our adaptive immune system is based on an old viral/transposon recombinase.
Transposon Molecular Domestication and the Evolution of the RAG Recombinase
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6494689/
Here is the actual study:
Escape of the BC200 gene to a human poxvirus reveals its persistent transposition in primates
shevy-java 44 minutes ago
Is VDJ recombination based on viruses or transposons?
It's the first time I hear this. Can't yet say much about it until I can verify that.
initramfs 5 hours ago
This brings a whole new meaning to sores. Has this infection been previously identified? Edit: Yes https://www.cdc.gov/molluscum-contagiosum/about/index.html
I guess it just hadn't been linked to human genes before.
readthenotes1 5 hours ago
This must be microbe awareness day.
Earlier iirc someone posted
pxc 30 minutes ago
I thought viruses weren't considered to be microbes. Was I mistaken? Is there a broader category that includes things like bacteria and also viruses?
odmcownckexnn 2 hours ago
Can we please start banning articles with paywalls from being posted at all?
If I cannot read without a subscription (or a damn paywall removed), it shouldn’t be posted here. This is tantamount to posting an ad for an NYT sub.
creatonez 2 hours ago
The HN rules are that paywalled content can be posted only if it's trivially bypassable via a free tool. The NYTimes links work on fresh IP addresses as part of a free allowance for new readers, which is why the proxy-based archive website archive.today is able to get through. I'm not a big fan of this being allowed, but there is some thought to it at least, they aren't just allowing anything.
ectospheno 2 hours ago
It is a shame that the free tool of choice is a site that put a DDOS attack in its captcha. So my options are not read the article or... not read the article. Nice.
gpm 2 hours ago
ojihgfhoniyfc 2 hours ago
That’d be sensible reasoning IF the articles were already posted with a paywall-free url, but they are not, so as it stands these are essentially just ads.
creatonez 2 hours ago
gumby 44 minutes ago
Daklone 3 hours ago
Ah yes, the NYT paywall.
Here you go everyone: https://archive.ph/PpKtR
shevy-java an hour ago
There was no theft involved. "Genes" are not "owned".
AnimalMuppet 13 minutes ago
If the virus didn't evolve the gene on its own, then "stole" seems like a fair description of how it got it.