> To: mol-evol at net.bio.net> From: campbejr at phu989.mms.sbphrd.com (John R. Campbell)
> Subject: Re: A possible definition of life.
> On 16 Apr 1997 06:37:22 -0700, "Ed Rybicki" <ed at MOLBIOL.UCT.AC.ZA> wrote:
> >By: mattst at cogs.susx.ac.uk (Matthew Stanfield)
> >> ... [snip]
> >>
> >> "Life (on Earth) consists of all things built by DNA."
> >
> >Because, Matthew, there are those of us who think viruses - at least
> >when in their hosts - display the attributes of living things. And
> >many viruses have RNA genomes.
>> Yes, but in order to be replicated these puppies have gotta
> be fed through reverse transcriptase (sp?) to generate the
> DNA which can *then* be replicated to make the shell, RNA
> strands and more reverse transcriptase.
Only if they're a retrovirus - and most RNA viruses replicate
RNA<----->RNA, NOT RNA----->DNA------>RNA!!!
Ed Rybicki, PhD
Dept Microbiology | ed at molbiol.uct.ac.za
University of Cape Town | rybicki at uctvms.uct.ac.za
Private Bag, Rondebosch | phone: x27-21-650-3265
7700, South Africa | fax: x27-21-689 7573
WWW URL: http://www.uct.ac.za/microbiology/ed.html
"Out here on the perimeter, there are no stars..."
