zbertoli
zbertoli t1_ivevtne wrote
Reply to We know about viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms evolving to better infect other organisms. Consequently, diseases change too to some extent. Are there any examples of human bodies evolving to fight against these disease causing agents? by ha_ha_ha_ha_hah
Many of our immune cells are specially tailored to fighting certain pathogens. We have immune cells for specifically fighting parasitic worms, specifically for flukes, etc. We've been fighting these parasites for so long, our immune system evolved special cells to fight that specific type of parasite. Now that we don't have those parasites in us anymore, leading theories show that these cells can become over reactive and contribute/cause all types of allergies. Pretty interesting
zbertoli t1_iui4zmm wrote
Reply to comment by Tagracat in What is the actual mechanism by which the body generates a fever? by Pheophyting
Pretty sure of you're close to 104 or higher you run the risk of dying. Gotta drop that fever. Or if you have a non productive fever like when you get a vaccine. It's doing nothing to help you in that case
zbertoli t1_jbokdu7 wrote
Reply to I just learned that the known shortest DNA in an “organism” is about 1700 base pairs in a certain virus. Is there a minimum amount of “code” required for an organism (or virus) to function in any capacity? by mcbergstedt
I know one of the smallest genomes is for HEP D, its a satellite virus that only has like 3 genes. It uses the proteins from Hep A-C because it doesn't have them all. So to get D, you have to have another HEP. Pretty cool, honestly. It only has 1700 bp and is thought to maybe be a old plant virus called a viroid