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Evolutionary Significance of Virus Infection

Abstract

VIRUS infection is widespread throughout the animal and plant kingdoms, and produces most human illness1, possibly including certain types of cancer2. Particles with viral morphology are easily isolated from sea3 or river water suggesting that they are ubiquitous. In this communication we have assembled evidence to support the view that viral transduction is a key mechanism for transporting segments of DNA across species and phylum barriers, and that evolution depends largely on this transfer. The evidence may be summarized as follows.

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ANDERSON, N. Evolutionary Significance of Virus Infection. Nature 227, 1346–1347 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/2271346a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2271346a0

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