Previous
Methylation
A retrovirus is a virus made out of RNA which can copy itself into the DNA of an organism. Moalem posits that jumping genes are likely descended from retroviruses.
Retrovirus Quotes in Survival of the Sickest
The Survival of the Sickest quotes below are all either spoken by Retrovirus or refer to Retrovirus. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6
Quotes
According to Villarreal, this capacity of African primates to support the persistent infection of other viruses may have put our evolution on “fast forward” by allowing more rapid mutation through exposure to other retroviruses. It’s possible that this capacity helped spur our evolution into humans.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Survival of the Sickest LitChart as a printable PDF.
Retrovirus Term Timeline in Survival of the Sickest
The timeline below shows where the term Retrovirus appears in Survival of the Sickest. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: Jump Into the Gene Pool
...own—instead, viruses reproduce by infecting a host and using the hosts’ cellular machinery to replicate. Retroviruses are a subset of viruses that are made of RNA (which usually acts as a...
(full context)
Retroviruses can thus write themselves into the DNA of cells in the germ line of an...
(full context)
...African primates also share an interesting genetic trait: our genomes have been modified by a retrovirus in a way that makes it easier for us to be infected by other retroviruses....
(full context)
