Genetic Diversity
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/health/05virus.html?pagewanted=1&em
By CARL ZIMMER
Published: May 4, 2009
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Viruses are also turning out to be astonishingly diverse. Shannon Williamson of the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., has been analyzing the genes of ocean viruses. A tank of 100 to 200 liters of sea water may hold 100,000 genetically distinct viruses. “We’re just scratching the surface of virus diversity,” Dr. Williamson said. “I think we’re going to be continually surprised.”
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In American terms; A gallon of sea water holds 2500-5000 distinct species of viruses.
Close your eyes and think of all the water in the ocean. Think about the zillions of viruses, zillion of mutants, xillions of mutant combinations. Good mutants, bad mutans. Mutants, mutants everywhere.
And with all these combinations God can break any combination locker, and open any door you can think of as well as you can not think of. God is far beyond any hacker in the world.
Yes, with all these viral species, we are certainly not alone in this universe.
Maybe marine biologists and SETI Instititute Researchers (http://www.seti.org/Page.aspx?pid=1241) should come together from time to time. They might have topics to discuss over a cup of coffee. What do you think ?
Further Reading;
A global marine viral metagenome
Edward Wawrzynczak
Nature Reviews Genetics 8, 3 (2007) | doi:10.1038/nrg2030.
