[Ultima (OP)]

I was just looking online about retroviruses. I noticed that Spumavirinae genus is supposed to have no pathological effect i.e. they don’t cause any damage I take it? I also couldn’t find any human examples, is this because they are hard to track down or that they don’t exist? Plus what if they are abundant but we don’t notice? They might be doing all sorts of weird things and might even influence embryo development (since HIV a retrovirus makes it across to children) I don’t know just got me thinking, plus I’m reading a cool SciFi book that mentions retroviruses being used to patch human DNA. Anyone around who knows anything about this subject? I would be really interested in hearing about anything to do with what “harmless” retroviruses get up to and how they might affect larger organisms. Plus why haven't eukaryotic cells evolved to incorporate retroviruses as some uber self replicating chemical messenger. Imagine you could have like hormone like responses between separate organisms transmitted by a retrovirus???

wOw the world spins?

[chris]

Foamy viruses are retros without obvious pathological effect. SFV (simian foamy virus) has been found to infect humans involved in the African bush meat trade. Infected individuals have detectable viral nucleic acids (RNA) in the bloodstream, and mount an antibody response, but as far as virologists can tell it's a virus in search of a disease syndrome.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[Ultima (OP)]

neat thanks for the reply! []

wOw the world spins?

[Boris]

quote:Originally posted by Ultima

Plus why haven't eukaryotic cells evolved to incorporate retroviruses as some uber self replicating chemical messenger. Imagine you could have like hormone like responses between separate organisms transmitted by a retrovirus???

They might have, but it hasn't been discovered yet.