In 2022, Christian Drosten, director of the Charitable Virus Research Institute in Berlin, Germany, said in an interview with the German Times Weekly, "With the evolution of the new coronavirus, it is difficult to regain its original lethality. During the evolution process, it cannot return to its original place... it can only make some optimization and adjustments...its toxicity will also be reduced."
Christian Drosten
, director of the Charitable Virus Research Institute in Berlin, Germany, is not difficult to see that , the new coronavirus that has "harvested" human lives worldwide since the end of 2019, is gradually weakening with the passage of time, and its "toxicity" is obviously much worse than the previous .
So, what is the evolution mechanism of virus ? Why does it become weaker and weaker? What is the evolution mechanism of
virus?
survival rules and evolution mechanisms of viruses
Compared with humans, viruses are the old birthday stars on earth. According to people's speculation, when the first cell on earth was born, the virus appeared together. However, it is still a mystery as to when it originated and where it came from. During the exploration process, people have figured out theories of the origin of these viruses.
They are reverse theory, cell origin theory, and co-evolution theory , respectively. In terms of cell origin theory, some viruses "escape" from the genes of organisms and evolved, which means that their relationship with us is really close.
The origin of viruses has many kinds of
However, it should be noted that viruses cannot be considered "life", is just a non-cellular parasite composed of a single nucleic acid molecule and protein . Its mission is to parasitic reproduction, and then mutate in the process, thereby producing genetic diversity .
Because like organisms in nature, viruses also follow the law of "sustaining nature and survival of the fittest". It understands that mutation is an important way to adapt to the environment and maintain survival, so it persists in "changing" itself in the process of transmission. In this way, it seems quite "inspirational".
In order to adapt to the environment, the virus will constantly mutate
. So, what do you think is the strongest virus?
You may say that the infectious and fatal cholera virus, smallpox virus or the occasional zombie fraud, but it is scary every time, but these viruses are not essentially viruses that achieve the optimal survival rule.
viruses that truly have evolutionary advantages are often the type that is highly transmissible but has the least harm to the host.
Because only the less harm it causes can they survive and spread for a long time. Viruses like Ebola virus that kill the host in minutes, although they have strong combat effectiveness, their transmission ability is far from keeping up with influenza viruses and the new coronavirus, because while killing the host, it is also equivalent to cutting off its own way of retreat.
After the powerful Ebola virus killed the host, it also killed itself
As for the evolutionary mechanism of the virus, it mainly includes gene mutation, virus genetic information exchange and natural selection . There are two common ways. The first type of is to co-evolve with the host , and the second type is to make the host range wide by polymerase poor correction. Generally speaking, the evolution of DNA viruses follows the first pathway, while RNA viruses prefer the second one.
In short, no matter which of the above choice is chosen, the virus will make certain "compromise" in the process of evolution in order to let its seeds sprinkle in more places. This kind of compromise is to show weakness in people's eyes, but essentially to survive.
No matter how it evolves, the goal of the virus is to continue to survive and spread
So, what is the connection between this unique mechanism of the virus and the genes?
gene strong desire to control
Everyone knows that humans have been looking for ways to delay aging in recent years. During the research, we found that originally had a protective mechanism for human cells . The health and lifespan of cells are closely related to the telomeres at the top. Although telomeres will be weakened, there is telomerase that can fill it. If telomerase can maintain normal synthesis, then the lifespan of a person will definitely be more than that.
But in fact, telomerase is not as obedient as we imagined, because it is controlled by the "gene". In everyone's eyes, genes belong to each individual, they have commonalities and differences, and our relationship is relatively harmonious.
Telemolecular enzyme is regulated by genes and will not work for life
. Have you ever thought that in fact, genes do not care about the individual’s situation at all, but only care whether they can continue?
Because people are surprised to find that if people often stay hungry, their genes will judge the current environment as unsuitable for "reproduction". At this time, will use special regulation to make your body adapt to the environment as much as possible and strive to survive .
gene will help people adapt to the harsh environment through special regulation and help them adapt to the harsh environment. After you complete the heavy responsibility of reproduction, the gene will make you aging. After all, your task has been completed at this time. Simply put, the gene "has no emotions" and it is very selfish.
Biologist Richard Dowkinson once said, "Organisms are gene-controlled hosts. Genes can pass themselves between generations through reproduction to achieve the purpose of immortality. After the host is used by genes, it is worthless and will quickly aging and die."
The nature of the gene is selfish, and it does not care whether the host can survive healthily
It is this selfish and strong desire to control that makes the gene appear very domineering. If the virus destroys humans as soon as it comes out, won’t the gene reproduction ideal be ruined? Therefore, it will never allow humans to die immediately, and people need to continue to help them complete the great cause of spreading and reproduction.
This desire for control protects humans' "culture medium" while also suppresses and regulates the toxicity of the virus. Because in essence, a virus is actually a host of genes. Although its structure is very simple, it has a genome composed of nucleic acid molecules. The existence of the
gene suppresses the toxicity of the virus
Therefore, under the condition that survival and reproduction are the first goal, the virus will become weaker and weaker in the process of transmission . After all, we said in the above article that viruses with advantages are often less harmful but highly transmissible.
It can be seen that gene selfishness can also play a certain positive role at this time. At least its bidirectionality will balance the virus's transmission rate and toxicity. Sometimes, the virus will even "put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot" to achieve a state of coexistence with the host. This point is actually easy to understand. After all, the survival of viruses depends very much on the host. In order to survive and reproduce, they should also hope that the host can "live for a hundred years". And it never thought that during the invasion of the human body, the side effects would cause such great harm to the human body. If we can achieve "self-regulation" from the beginning, we will probably start with the virus to lighter.
Due to its own nature, the survival of viruses depends very much on the host
Of course, in addition to the special mechanism of genes, which can make people get a breather while fighting against viruses, The human body's immune system is not a dry meal, they will engage in crazy confrontation with the virus.
The human body's immune system will also fight the virus
Let's take the new crown epidemic as an example. After the new crown virus invades the human body, it will cause us to have symptoms such as coughing, fever, etc., but in fact, this fever is the "confrontation plan" of our human body's immune system. The ultimate goal is to kill the virus, because from a certain perspective, most viruses in are that are more afraid of high temperatures.
Generally speaking, the immune system has two sets of strategies to fight viruses. The first set is to prevent them from replicating and reproduction madly. And before blocking, of course, we must find the virus first. At this time, the "Toll-like receptor " on the heads of dendritic cells and macrophages will accept signals and search for viruses like antennas.
Dendritic cells will receive signals and search for the location of the virus
After identifying the location of the virus and its related components, immune cells begin to generate substances such as defense cells and interferons, and use them to attack the virus. During the battle, interferon can also warn other cells, prompting them to prepare in advance.
The second set of strategies is to activate the familiar T cells and B cells . They can form an adaptive immune response and fight with the virus.
T cells and B cells combine to form an adaptive immune response
In short, the cells in our bodies are actually very concerned about our safety. Since they are all so active, we cannot be even more frustrated when facing viruses. We must fight side by side with them and actively cooperate with them!
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