In article <p06002002bb8cc63eeae7@[192.168.1.115]>,
weissm at rockefeller.edu (Martin Weiss) wrote:
> The public perception is that germs are bad and to be
> avoided. Most-about 1% of microorganisms-are not pathogenic. Most
> examples of beneficial or benign microorganisms are bacteria. What
> about viruses? Are there examples of viruses having a positive
> effect? Benign might be difficult to document.
>> Cheers,
> Martin
http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/3035/Retroviruses.html
~11% of the mammalian genome is composed of retrovirus-like
retrotransposons.. Compare this with only ~2.5% of the human genome
which encodes unique (non-repeated) genes!
Mi, S. et al.(2000) Syncytin is a captive retroviral envelope protein
involved in human placental morphogenesis Nature 403: 785-9.
Virus vectors for gene therapy:
http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/3035/peel/peel1.html
So the answer is, lots!
--
Dr Alan J. Cann, Department of Microbiology & Immunology,
University of Leicester, P.O. Box 138, Medical Sciences Building,
University Road, Leicester LE1 9HN, UK.
