Human ERVs

Given that Zeno doesn't seem to have any interest in arguing actual facts or anything even close to reality... I think my best advice at this point is:

Don't feed the troll
 
Zeno said:
If ERVs are from viruses then why would they help out with the immune system?
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Evolution. If they happen to help the species survive they will be passed on.
That indicates some kind of purpose or design.
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Indicates evolution to me.
I suppose now that people will suggest that ERVs came from viruses and then they evolved to be beneficial. Really??
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Close, so close. They did not 'evolve', but if the ERVs happened to be beneficial or neutral they will be passed on.

Simple. No magic required!
 
Zeno said:
https://splice-bio.com/viruses-can-help-regulate-human-immune-system/
So, the ERVs just 'happened' to land near genes that are part of the immune system?
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Now you got it!
The ERVs just 'happened' to evolve the ability to assist those genes in their task?
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No, the ERVs did not evolve, as I just said in the previous post. ERVs, like a mutation, can be beneficial, detrimental or neutral. If they are beneficial or neutral then they will be passed on.
 
Zeno said:
After giving this some thought, I have concluded that ERV sequences in genomes of organisms are not from viruses but are part of the original design of the organism. I have learned that chimps and humans have many ERVs at the same locations in their genomes. The probability that this could occur by random chance is very, very small.
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The probability that ANY given mutation can happen by random chance is very, very small.

ERV's are detrimental to the organism. Therefore the organism will not keep such mutations. Thus the only way for them to show up in the genome is via a delivery mechanism from outside (like a retrovirus.)
 
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Zeno said:
The reason why I came to this conclusion is as follows:

There are several possibilities...
1. ERVs prove that there was a common ancestor to humans and apes because ERVs infected a common ancestor millions of years ago and that's why we find ERV sequences in the same locations in the genomes of apes and humans.
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I wouldn't call it 'prove'. More like 'suggests'.

Evolution is a fairy tale so this possibility can be dismissed.
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I don't believe that evolution is a fairy-tale, so I don't dismiss it. I think that it's probably the likeliest explanation.

2. Humans and apes were created separately and were subsequently infected by ERVs and they just happened to wind up in the same locations in the genomes of apes and humans. The probability of this occurring is too small so this possibility can be dismissed also.
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One needn't assume that humans and apes were "created separately". Even if humans and apes are different branches on the same phylogenetic tree, they might have been separately infected by similar retroviruses. There may be some other explanation for why the ERVs end up in similar locations on chromosomes. Perhaps those that ended up elsewhere had harmful effects that led to those individuals dying or failing to reproduce. Perhaps that particular location on a chromosome had some advantageous effect. Perhaps that particular location simply made it easy for the cell to inhibit virus replication and hence to prevent the cell from being lysed, releasing countless more virus particles. Chromosomes are exceedingly complicated things, with all kinds of molecular switches turning genes on and off.

3. Humans and apes were created separately and the ERV sequences were part of the original genome when the organism was created. This is the only reasonable hypothesis.
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I don't think so.
 
Kittamaru said:
Given that Zeno doesn't seem to have any interest in arguing actual facts or anything even close to reality.
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He seemingly represents somebody trying to craft a scientific argument for "creation science". At the very least, his doing that gives board readers the opportunity to learn more about endogenous retroviruses and about what their evolutionary significance might be.

I think my best advice at this point is:

Don't feed the troll
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I think that he represents a learning opportunity for everyone, if anyone on Sciforums is smart enough to grasp it.
 
Yazata said:
He seemingly represents somebody trying to craft a scientific argument for "creation science". At the very least, his doing that gives board readers the opportunity to learn more about endogenous retroviruses and about what their evolutionary significance might be.



I think that he represents a learning opportunity for everyone, if anyone on Sciforums is smart enough to grasp it.
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I couldn't disagree more really, there's no point in even acknowledging these people. Take it as an opportunity to learn more of HERVs - sure, but religious fanatics will never learn.
 
Are ERVs that are unique to humans present in the entire human population? I couldn't find an answer to this question on the Internet.
 
Zeno said:
Are ERVs that are unique to humans present in the entire human population? I couldn't find an answer to this question on the Internet.
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Not read all of this but I would hazard a guess that yes they are

If the link gives a yes answer OK. If it indicates only some humans sorry I steered you wrong

The existence of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) has been known for many years [4], but their abundance in the genome was not predicted by earlier studies.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC138943/

:)
 
I thought ERV was "Emergency Response Vehicle" like police cars, fire engines, and ambulances.
 
How is it possible for someone in the past to get infected with an ERV and now the ERV is in the DNA of every person on the planet?
 
Zeno said:
As I've already pointed out here
http://www.sciforums.com/threads/ervs-in-genomes-are-not-from-viruses.160063/
ERVs can't be from viruses since the probability of many homologous viruses between chimps and humans is basically zero. That's why I was curious if ERVs that are unique to humans are present in everybody on the planet.
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This is a duplicate thread, identical to your earlier thread. The answers you get will also be duplicates. I will ask the mods to combine these two threads for you.
You're welcome.
 
This study says the question is complicated, and the answer is yes and no: https://retrovirology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12977-015-0136-x
The human genome shares with the genome of other great apes and gibbons a recent decline in ERV integration that is not typical of other primates and mammals. The human genome differs from that of related species both in maintaining up until at least recently a replicating old ERV lineage and in not having acquired any new lineages. We speculate that the decline in ERV integration in the human genome has been exacerbated by a relatively low burden of horizontally-transmitted retroviruses and subsequent reduced risk of endogenization.
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