Viborg Chimaeral Variant Implications of HERV for The Human Species. This is Pure Conjecture. Original 11 February 2011
There is Mendelian genetics and then there is the following and we must also account for epigenetics which I don't discuss here though its possibly a great player in the whole genome story.
Because we share genes in common with everything from a banana to chimps and bacteria to viruses is logical to deduce that science is on the cusp of a great discovery of the human race.
We are a pluripotent genetic chimaera. How I arrived at this INTRIGUING IDEA is from a long standing consideration of trying to find an explanation for autism, schizophrenia, and the 26 genes for mental retardation on the human X chromosome and several days ago, finding out that
we have 50,000 human endogenous retroviruses HERV's in the non-coding regions of our DNA genome. It was reading this article and watching undisciplined children's behavior change to more infective mode with flu virus infections that brought me to this eureka moment. http://www.autoimmune.com/HMTVGen.html
It occured to me that these HERV's must from time to time manifest themselves in altering human behavior as well as the cancers like murine breast cancer MMTV and HMTV, the 95% similar human variant we have come to associate with them. Multicellular organisms that have mitchondria, golgi apparatae, amoeboid cells are really a symbiont of a variety of cell types each contributing something vital to the organism including quite possibly a behavioral component. This makes eukaryotes a chimaera, a bizarre hybrid of species and classes of organisms. With the discovery of HERV's, we must accept that we are also hybridized with endogenous retroviruses, some so deeply incorporated into our genomes, that they are not recognized by the immune system as other when they happen to produce their proteins in a reading frame and they may in fact through mutations and selection, provide benefits to evolutionary fitness.
The Retrovirus Life Cycle
Unlike most other organisms, the genome of a retrovirus is composed of RNA instead of DNA. This means that infectious retroviral particles contain RNA. After infection of a cell by a retrovirus, the viral RNA is released into the cell along with several proteins which are required for the initial steps of viral replication. One of these proteins is called reverse transcriptase. After the release of the RNA, the reverse transcriptase makes, or transcribes, a DNA copy of the viral genome. This DNA copy is then inserted somewhat randomly into the DNA of the infected cell. The insertions occur in areas of the cell's DNA that are undergoing the normal DNA replication that happens prior to cell division, so only actively growing cells can support insertion of viral DNA. After the DNA copy is inserted into the cell's DNA, viral sequences then direct the expression of the viral genome. During this process, which in the case of MMTV occurs in response to estrogen, a complete RNA copy of the entire viral genome is produced. This RNA is then packaged into infectious viral particles, and the viral particles are subsequently released from the cell where they can infect another cell and start the whole cycle again.
Insertional Mutagenesis
During the viral life cycle the insertion of the viral genome occurs most of the time within "silent" regions of the cell's DNA. These silent regions, which account for the vast majority of the DNA within a cell, have no known function.
Sometimes, however, the insertion occurs within or very near the DNA base pairs that make up a gene, and the presence of the virus's inserted DNA alters the function of that gene. The altered gene is said to have been mutated, and this process is called insertional mutagenesis. If the normal function of a gene is critical to the survival of the cell, then a mutation of the gene will kill the infected cell. But
if the gene controls a non-critical function of the infected cell, such as its growth, the cell can survive the insertion despite the fact that the cell's physiology has been permanently altered. In some cases this mutation has no outward effect on the cell, but in other cases the mutation can have profound effects on how the cell grows and behaves.
Other HERV's are known to cause autoimmune diseases and there are quite a number of them. I thought why not diseases that affect human consiousness and behavior as well and of course they must, because like the mitochondria, golgi, plasmid of old, each addition to the mix that is eukaryotes must bring a behavioral component as well.
I think now that I have identified that we humans have pluripotent chimaeral variants in existence and what we call disease in some cases is really the HERV taking over the ape inherited behavioral component of our species making us a HERV human hybrid, Herv-Borgs or short hand Viborgs if you will. 50,000 HERV's that live in our DNA cannot be ignored regarding their potential to alter our being.
I think it is entirely within the frame of reality to postulate here and now that human virus hybrids, HERV-Borgs or Viborgs can and do exist and we simply didn't realize this until molecular genetics had advanced to where it is today. Mysterious psychological diseases that have bizarre unexplained elements coud possibly be cases of Viborgs. Conversely if an individuals behavior is ape_like, simian if you will, then they are a Simborg.
Simply put. More variants of humans exist than we have recognized previously by manifestation of HERV product and they may be HERV-Ape hybrids. The Ape lineage is too narrow a perspective for what it is to be Human.
Some proportion of psychopathologies that manifest clearly un-ape like behavior are potentially Viborgs, this other variant whose HERV DNA is not in the silent region sleeping at all but is the virus very much producing protein product. Is this an example of saltatory evolution testing the variant field?
An interesting new development is that bacteria can incorporate segments of human DNA into their genomes! http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/216442.php
The profound ramification of this is that other organisms are chimaeras too, made up not only of genes they themselves have inherited and mutated but genes they have copied or stolen or had injected by phages or symbionts or pathogens from other species. Was a human endogenous retrovirus virus involved in the transfer? Raises the profound question is there a pure species or is every creature a chimaera?
In further reading from the internet, I have found an ancient lemur retrovirus in the human genome called HERV-W that is associated with schizophrenia psychosis. http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/03-the-insanity-virus/article_view?b_start:int=2&-C
“Research shows that infections may play a role in chronic psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia, with the Herpes virus family.” (See MedWireNews, Schizophrenia Research, 2011) (4) (4) Davenport, L. EBV infection linked to subclinical psychosis symptoms. Published June 16, 2011.
How does EBV cause schizophrenia?
Scientists are not entirely certain. However, one theory suggests that viruses like EBV actually integrate with the genome (the genetic material) of those they infect. “The insertion of viral DNA into the human genome had until recently been thought to be the preserve of retroviruses. However the incorporation of DNA into mammalian genomes has recently been demonstrated on a large scale for both RNA and DNA viruses.” (See the Journal of Pathogens, from 2011) (5) EBV is a double stranded DNA virus. The result of the integration of EBV into the genome is that “upon infection, these pathogens are thus able to interfere with the function of their human counterparts in a number of ways.” (5) For example, “Repeated viral insertion could well explain copy number variations, which are associated with a number of diseases, including schizophrenia.” (5) Carter, C.J. Schizophrenia: A Pathogenetic Autoimmune Disease Caused by Viruses and Pathogens and Dependent on Genes. Journal of Pathogens. Published 2011.
Q.E.D. Thesis confirmed. We are a chimaera and a psychotic viral variant, a Viborg, exists. The clinical and legal ramifications are enormous stemming from my discovery. Psychosis can be contagious triggered by infections, pathogens and human endogenous retrovirus becoming active.
There is a very important ramification for our understanding of evolution speaking to us from this lateral gene injection. It is this. Evolution is both intraspecific and interspecific, that is linear and lateral across species, and I would call it transpecific evolutionary genome transfer. Viborgs and Simborgs cry out that evolution is linear with inherited genomes and lateral with acquired genomes as is the case when our primal plasmids acquired the mitochondria or a virus inserted or newly asserts itself into our inherited genome. Darwin would shake in his boots at this conclusion.
Conversely, Perrons genome, HERV-W on chromosomes 6, 7 when inactivated, is probably the main cause of rationality in the human species and if coupled to neoteny of infantile imprinting, can explain our ability to learn over a lifetime and make scientific deductions. My conclusion is that there is no such thing as pure species. All life owes its existence to the web of life around us.
Copyright 2011 Jorma Jyrkkanen. All rights reserved.
Tags: HERV, endogenous retroviruses, chimaera, humans, psychologicaal, disease, pluripotential, hybrids, HERV-Borg, Viborg, Jorma Jyrkkanen
Addendum: These chaps showe that MYRPH in the brain can alter gene expression. MYRF encodes a transcription factor, a protein which binds to the DNA of other genes and switches them on or off. Without it, many of the genes needed for myelination don't get turned on and the whole process goes awry, leading to major neurological problems. Recently, two research teams independently teased apart how MYRF works and discovered that a core part of the gene originally came from a virus which preys upon bacteria. This line of work has led to major changes to our understanding of evolution as attested to by a Sept tweet by this reporter. This raises the question does modifying gene expression in the brain alter behavioural expression? http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/accumulating-glitches/viruses_genes_in_our_brain
Tags:
chimaera, disease, endogenous retroviruses, herv, herv-borg, humans, hybrids, jorma jyrkkanen, pluripotential, psychologicaal, viborg
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