“Disease usually results from inconclusive negotiations for symbiosis, an overstepping of the line by one side or the other, a biological misinterpretation of the borders.”
— Lewis Thomas
Sorry for the delayed reply, but I studied in this field as welll, so curious why you thought CRISPR would be associated with viruses over bacteria or even mold/yeast?
It was revolutionary when it was first isolated from bacteria. Always fascinating to me that it’s pretty much the bacterial adaptive immune system. Now it’s awesome seeing other scientists dial in the precision of an already game changing advancement.
Well, only very specific viruses entry the nucleus, most often due to not bringing along enzymes needed for replication. Then, there’s transducing viruses and non-transducing viruses, of which only one will retain it’s genome in the host genome. Both occur near oncogenic gene locations too, which is why viral infections can lead to cancer, but this isn’t very common at all. IDK, guess I’ve always felt bacteria are way more complex and that it makes sense CRISPR comes from them. Bacterial viruses, aka bacteria phages, were the evolutionary pressure which lead to CRISPR’s development. But I’m a nerd and stay up to date with it all, so maybe that shifted my outlook.