• angrystego@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    There are viruses that make some plants look more appealing to some people. For example they are the cause of these striped patterns on tulip petals.

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      6 hours ago

      Additionally, a good chunk of our DNA is from ancient viruses, so homosapiens wouldn’t be what we are today without viruses.

  • angrystego@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Some viruses are useful for studying genes - you can make them transfer a genetic sequence into a cell.

    They can be used in gene therapy - a very promising field of medicine.

    And some viruses could also be used instead of antibiotics, which could potentialy solve the resistence problems and also help avoiding collateral damage to symbiotic bacteria. (Research of this technology is quite old, unfortunately it was abandoned for a long time and everyone focused on antibiotics instead.)

  • OtterA
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    7 hours ago

    Viruses affect other things too, including bacteria! Bacteriophages are the first to come to mind

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SbvAaDN1bpE

    Sorry to link to a video, but this recent Kurzgesagt video covered your question pretty closely :)

  • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Probably, yeah. Their whole schtick is to move DNA around and fuck up genomes n shit. They’re evolutionary drivers.

  • lost_faith
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    6 hours ago

    There is the “Luck Virus” and “Sexual Magnetism Virus” poor Rimmer