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Scientists: Virus May Give Link to Life
Science - AP ^ | 2004-05-12

Posted on 05/13/2004 10:27:11 AM PDT by Junior

BILLINGS, Mont. - Scientists at Montana State University in Bozeman say they have discovered a heat-loving, acid-dwelling virus that could help provide a link to ancient life on Earth.

The virus found in Yellowstone National Park could help to understand a common ancestor that scientists believe was present before life split into forms such as bacteria, heat-loving organisms and the building blocks that led to plants and animals, researchers said.

"It's a clue that helps you say, `Yeah, there probably was a common ancestor at some point or sets of ancestors,'" said George Rice, one of the MSU scientists who participated in the study. "It's food for thought."

The scientists' discovery was published in the May 3 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites).

Rice began hunting for heat-loving "thermophilic" viruses in Yellowstone five years ago. In 2001, he and others found several apparently unique viruses associated with an organism living near Midway Geyser Basin where temperatures ranged from 158 to 197 degrees Fahrenheit.

"It was basically something living in boiling acid," Rice said.

Although several new viruses were discovered, one in particular caught their eye.

After characterizing the structure and genome of the virus, they found that its protein shell was similar to a bacterial virus and an animal virus. The similarity suggests to the scientists that the three viruses may share a common ancestor that predates the branching off of life forms more than 3 billion years ago.

"This is something that was predicted but hadn't been shown before," Rice said.

For a long time, scientists classified all life forms as plant or animal. That classification system expanded as more life forms were discovered. Eventually, biologists divided life into five kingdoms — plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and protists.

A more recent approach divides life into three domains: bacteria, eukarya — which includes plants, fungi, animals and others — and archaea, which means ancient.

Archaea, similar to bacteria, is likely the least understood of the domains, according to the paper's authors. Archaea may have been among the first forms of life on Earth. Able to thrive in the hot, gaseous and volcanic terrain of early Earth, they could also survive in the very inhospitable geothermal features of the Yellowstone of today.

Now that scientists know the Yellowstone virus's ancient structure seems to span all three domains of life, scientists plan additional studies on its genes to figure out what they tell the virus to do.

"Anywhere there's life, we expect viruses," Young said. "They are the major source of biological material on this planet."

Researchers said the virus and others found at Yellowstone will give researchers a hand in the search for life on other planets, including Mars.

"These bugs are living and doing business in a harsh environment," Rice said. "This may be clues about what to look for."


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: crevo; crevolist; origins; theory; virus; yellowstone
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1 posted on 05/13/2004 10:27:12 AM PDT by Junior
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To: PatrickHenry; VadeRetro; RadioAstronomer; Ichneumon
Un autre ping.
2 posted on 05/13/2004 10:27:46 AM PDT by Junior (Sodomy non sapiens)
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To: Junior
help to understand a common ancestor that scientists believe was present before life split into forms such as bacteria, heat-loving organisms and the building blocks that led to plants and animals

This is great! I have only been able so far to trace my ancestors back to Adam and Eve. Now I can go back ever so much further...

3 posted on 05/13/2004 11:04:53 AM PDT by NCjim
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To: Junior
life split into forms such as bacteria, heat-loving organisms and the building blocks

The word may appears in the headline. Each time the word may appears in a headline we may assume that the article is total speculation. The use of the word may ought to mean permit, but meaning is selling at a discount these days.

4 posted on 05/13/2004 11:11:18 AM PDT by RightWhale (Destroy the dark; restore the light)
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To: Junior
Scientists ... say they have discovered a heat-loving, acid-dwelling virus...

They've temporarily named it "the Timothy Leary virus"...

5 posted on 05/13/2004 11:54:00 AM PDT by talleyman (It's not the heat, it's the stupidity.)
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To: Junior
YEC INTREP
6 posted on 05/13/2004 12:08:32 PM PDT by LiteKeeper
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To: VadeRetro; jennyp; Junior; longshadow; RadioAstronomer; Physicist; LogicWings; Doctor Stochastic; ..
PING. [This list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and some other science topics like cosmology. FReepmail me to be added or dropped. Long-time list members get all pings, but can request evo-only status. New additions will be evo-only, but can request all pings. Specify all pings or you'll get evo-pings only.]
7 posted on 05/13/2004 12:16:23 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Everything good that I have done, I have done at the command of my voices.)
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To: PatrickHenry
Thanks for the ping!
8 posted on 05/13/2004 12:18:46 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: RightWhale
The word may appears in the headline. Each time the word may appears in a headline we may assume that the article is total speculation.

*You* may "assume" that, but most of the rest of us understand that "may" in a scientific context most certainly is *not* synonymous with "total speculation".

If believing so helps you emotionally cope with all these kinds of discoveries, though, may it bring you some kind of inner peace, while the rest of us follow the evidence where it leads.

9 posted on 05/13/2004 12:42:26 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: NCjim
This is great! I have only been able so far to trace my ancestors back to Adam and Eve. Now I can go back ever so much further...

You could have gone back "ever so much farther" even before this current article. For example, you could have traced your ancestry back to other great apes and old world monkeys via: Evolution of the primate lineage leading to modern humans: Phylogenetic and demographic inferences from DNA sequences, published in 1997, or Constructing primate phylogenies from ancient retrovirus sequences (1999), or any of the hundreds of other similar studies.

Or you could have traced your ancestry back to the common ancestor of all placental mammals via: ERV-L Elements: a Family of Endogenous Retrovirus-Like Elements Active throughout the Evolution of Mammals (1999).

Or even all vertebrates (including fish and amphibians) via: Vertebrate genome sequencing: building a backbone for comparative genomics (2002).

10 posted on 05/13/2004 12:51:57 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: Ichneumon
Scientists do not use the word may. It either is or isn't with a +- error. No maybe. The tech writer or journalist is not a scientist.
11 posted on 05/13/2004 1:00:12 PM PDT by RightWhale (Destroy the dark; restore the light)
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To: Junior
"This is something that was predicted but hadn't been shown before," Rice said.

That is predicted from evolutionary theory, not from ID-Creationism.

12 posted on 05/13/2004 1:12:09 PM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: Doctor Stochastic
We'll note this the next time creationists claim evolution isn't a real theory because it doesn't make predictions. Of course, they usually change the subject as soon as they are shown the error of their ways...
13 posted on 05/13/2004 1:13:57 PM PDT by Junior (Sodomy non sapiens)
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To: RightWhale
Scientists do not use the word may. It either is or isn't with a +- error. No maybe.

Balderdash.

Titles of papers from just a single scientific journal (The Journal of Molecular Evolution) over the past few years:

Characterization of Species-Specifically Amplified SINEs in Three Salmonid Species—Chum Salmon, Pink Salmon, and Kokanee: The Local Environment of the Genome May Be Important for the Generation of a Dominant Source Gene at a Newly Retroposed Locus

Compositional Bias May Affect Both DNA-Based and Protein-Based Phylogenetic Reconstructions

The Appearance of a Different DNA Sequence May Decrease Nucleotide Diversity

Gene Conversions May Obscure Actin Gene Family Relationships

A Common Structural Motif in Elongation Factor Ts and Ribosomal Protein L7/12 May Be Involved in the Interaction with Elongation Factor Tu

Actin and Flagellin May Have an N-Terminal Relationship

Epigenetic Silencing May Aid Evolution by Gene Duplication

The word "may" most certainly *is* used by scientists, and it has a clear meaning in that context, something along the lines of "there is evidence to indicate this, and thus it should be kept in mind when studying relevant phenomenon, but further work needs to be done to more firmly establish the relationship and determine its scope".

It most certainly does *not* mean, as you claim, that "the article is total speculation". On the contrary, it means that there is evidence pointing towards the truth of the proposition, albeit not entirely conclusively.

14 posted on 05/13/2004 1:29:28 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: Ichneumon
Such imprecision of thought is exactly where literalists begin to pick at the foundations of science. There aren't many scientists. There are many with academic credentials who claim to be doing science. A may adds nothing to science, but it certainly adds to research revenues.
15 posted on 05/13/2004 1:36:57 PM PDT by RightWhale (Destroy the dark; restore the light)
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To: Junior
Of course, they usually change the subject as soon as they are shown the error of their ways...

Nah. They just deny that it was ever a prediction of evolution until after it was discovered. They're tricky like that.
16 posted on 05/13/2004 1:39:12 PM PDT by Dimensio (Join the Monthly Internet Flash Mob: http://tinyurl.com/3xj9m)
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To: Ichneumon
Do you ever question anything you read or link to?
You do know of the problems associated with ML-Based methods, right? Have those researchers sit with some paleos and/or biologists sometime to discuss the data.
They would probably drive each other nuts.
It's well-documented that morphological and genetic lineages aren't compatible. Some animals just don't fit the model (lungfishes and tetrapods, for example).

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0400609101v1
17 posted on 05/13/2004 1:44:45 PM PDT by Michael_Michaelangelo
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To: RightWhale
Original data or research is required for scientific peer publication. PERIOD.
18 posted on 05/13/2004 1:52:05 PM PDT by Nataku X (Kerry's Entire Campaign: Bush bad. Medals good. Bush bad.)
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To: Junior
Yellowstone is relatively young, geologically speaking. Is there any particular reason to believe that these viruses are relics from 3 billion years ago, vs. having evolved to their environment in the last X number of millions of years?
19 posted on 05/13/2004 1:53:46 PM PDT by malakhi
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To: Nakatu X
PERIOD? Really?
20 posted on 05/13/2004 2:01:42 PM PDT by RightWhale (Destroy the dark; restore the light)
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