TNPSC Thervupettagam

New Virus-like Life-forms

April 12 , 2024 227 days 203 0
  • Biological entities called obelisks have been hiding — in large numbers — inside the human mouth and gut.
  • These microscopic entities are circular bits of genetic material that contain one or two genes and self-organise into a rod-like shape.
  • The Scientists found this new form of life lying between viruses and viroids on the scale of simplicity. They called them ‘obelisks’.
  • For nearly seven decades since the discovery of viruses in 1898, they were the only organisms at the boundary between the living and the non-living.
  • In 1971, Theodor Diener, a plant pathologist discovered viroids.

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