“92% Of Your DNA Is From Your Parents. 8% is now from endogenous Retroviruses.”
“In Earth’s early life soup viruses played a unique role gene mutations can happen vertically when genes are passed from parent to offspring but viruses are special in that they enable horizontal Gene transfer think of them as cuers carrying tiny packets of genetic information from one host to another this process would have catalyzed the evolution of early organisms increasing the diversity and speed of the evolution process and this same process went on to affect the evolution of larger organisms such as insects and animals later in Earth’s timeline the evidence of virus’s ancient Origins and their role in shaping life is etched into our very DNA I mentioned at the start of this video that 8% is composed of endogenous retroviruses, remnants of ancient viral infections so viruses have made us who we are today we don’t know how humans would have turned out without viruses but we’d be radically different if we existed at all and it’s not just animal life that has reaped the benefit of what viruses have sown they’ve played a pivotal role in the evolution of plants plant viruses have shown to confer resistance to certain pests and diseases improving crop resilience without this modern day plants might be too weak to survive in our changing world and we might have succumbed to famine by
now, so by this point I’m probably changing your view a little on viruses.”
“Imagine Nanobots capable of identifying and destroying viruses at a molecular level or perhaps some form of global atmospheric filtration system that could
remove viral particles from the airit would need similar systems for water and soil…”
“without viruses to naturally regulate their populations species like the aphid explode in numbers leading to widespread crop damage and A disruption of the natural food
chain in humans the consequences are equally dire our immune systems having evolved in a world teaming with viruses begin to malfunction. Without viruses to
train and regulate our immune responses we see a rise in autoimmune diseases our bodies lacking an external enemy will start to attack themselves, conditions
like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid aritis and type 1 diabetes become rampant. Now you’ve heard of the human microbiome but have you heard of the
virome, there are strains of viruses inside you and on your skin, right now, that have been with you your enti entire life, your silent passengers we think of viruses as bad
but most of the viruses in your vome are harmless and eve bbeneficial they influence your microbiome and complement your immune system by reducing populations of pathogenic bacteria and harmful viruses in your body so getting rid of your virome would have profound and Untold consequences but the most alarming effect of all at least long term comes in the form of genetic stagnation we think of evolution as a slow process taking place over millions of years but a significant and Sudden Change in the environment like removing all viruses would cause all living things to exhibit noticeable changes within just a century or two..”