ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

Viruses/Ambiguous Life Forms 185
Figure 9.1: Phage virus landing and injecting genetic material into host cell. The
cylindrical collar undergoes a collective conformational contraction associated
with the injection. By Paul Jablonka.
Generally, viruses enter cells and pirate their genetic machinery to cause
virus multiplication; they then escape to begin another cycle. Some viruses
quietly and harmlessly reside within host cells for extremely long periods of time
whereas the sojourn of other viruses involves the total commandeering of cell
machinery and can have extremely damaging consequences for the host. Virus
induced human diseases range from trivial common colds and influenza to
chicken pox, measles, hepatitis, polio, and deadly diseases such as smallpox,
rabies, yellow fever, cancer, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(“AIDS”). Some viral diseases such as smallpox have been controlled by modern
medicine but others such as AIDS remain significant threats to human health.
Once assembled inside a host cell, viruses can escape in several ways. One
route involves causing the death and disintegration of the host cell, allowing the
newly formed viruses to spill out and carry their infection elsewhere. Viruses
which are covered by lipid membranes can also escape by “budding” or reverse
endocytosis (“pinocytosis”), a mechanism similar to secretion or extrusion of
neurotransmitter vesicles from synaptic boutons.
An important subclass of viruses are retroviruses which contain RNA without
DNA. When arriving within a host cell, the retrovirus brings an enzyme known
as reverse transcriptase which converts the virus single stranded RNA into a
double stranded DNA copy. This allows the virus to commandeer the host cell
genetic machinery. Among the human retroviruses is HTLV-III (or “HIV”),
carrier of AIDS.