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."
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...
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.
They've temporarily named it "the Timothy Leary virus"...
*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.
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).
That is predicted from evolutionary theory, not from ID-Creationism.
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 LocusThe 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".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
Actin and Flagellin May Have an N-Terminal Relationship
Epigenetic Silencing May Aid Evolution by Gene Duplication
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.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.