Comments on: Dormant viruses can hide in our DNA and be passed from parent to child

By: ResearchBlogging.org News » Blog Archive » How the animal lost its sensor, viral evolution and vomiting, and entering the ends

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:02:27 +0000

[...] into telomeres, where it can be passed on to offspring. The viral DNA enters our chromosomes by homologous recombination between a TTAGGG sequence found in the viral DNA and in [...]

By: Nathan Myers

Nathan Myers — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:14:58 +0000

The fun thing about that word “aglet” is that you don’t need to explain it. Say telomeres are like thost aglet things at the ends of readers’ shoelaces, and the word finds its own way into readers’ brains, just as the virus finds own its way, albeit less helpfully, into their nuclei.

We need another retrovirus that expresses the antisense to some essential part of HHV, that is triggered to be expressed whenever HHV is. But when is that?

By: The Science Pundit

The Science Pundit — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 03:14:07 +0000

@Ed Yong
Rare words are like fine wines for me. They are to be savored and enjoyed when you gat them. I am one of the few English speakers in this world who actually knows what an aglet is. I was looking for it in your post. While I was mildly disappointed to not find it in the main post, I was heartened to see you bring it up in the comments.

By: Daniel J. Andrews

Daniel J. Andrews — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 23:33:56 +0000

so these finding about science are wonderful even if they indicate that when we open a door, all we will find is another dozen doors.

Emphasis added. I'd say these findings about science are wonderful because when we open a door we will find another dozen doors.

By: katesisco

katesisco — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:48:31 +0000

yes, we puzzlers know it is an aglet and more amazing is this virus’ ability to pass on. Just imagining how many other do the same. And Yes, everything is connected. I am so astounded when I read time after time how poisoning this has a repercussion that affects something else.

As we older folk know, our economic cycles endlessly repeat; we are now doing the OK thing with tobacco, alcohol, gambling, drugs, and when this wears thin, we will swing the pendulum the other way, etc. So, the campaigns we signed onto like keeping cigarette smoking and alcohol advertising off tv are now in antecedence; so these finding about science are wonderful even if they indicate that when we open a door, all we will find is another dozen doors.

By: dubaijazz

dubaijazz — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 18:50:43 +0000

Congrats on the new host, Ed! Looks good. and btw I didn’t even need to change my google reader feed, it updated itself automatically.

Good luck!

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:39:22 +0000

Thanks Dave! Although it’s definitely not mine. I’ve heard it a few times before and I think it’s even on Wikipedia. Amusingly, the term for those things at the end of shoelaces is “aglet” but I figured that too few people would know the term that I’d be explaining a technical term with another technical term.

By: Dave Mosher

Dave Mosher — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:36:36 +0000

Ed, you have a gift with words. Especially love the shoelace cap/telomere analogy — and I’m probably going to steal that from you at some point in time (hey, imitation is the greatest form of flattery!)

One thing that struck me after reading this PNAS paper is what other viruses may do this (i.e. ones we may not know about yet). Also: although the body’s genetic machinery could be “blind” the HHV-6 hiding out in telomeres, could the virus’ presence actually help maintain telomeres — and therefore serve as a sort of symbiotic relationship?