Ancient Defense Mechanism is No Longer to Fight Viruses

It has never been easy for the living creatures like plants, insects, animals and the humans to survive with changing environment and elements that create threat to them. There is ancient defence mechanism in plants and insects that helps them to fight with various kinds of viruses which is encoded in the DNA.

It was considered by the scientists that the same kind of mechanism is present in humans that enable them to fight with viruses; however, researchers have come to a conclusion that this unique mechanism has come towards a big loss with time. There are two types of Argonaute proteins found in the organisms that are very important for the research namely: AGO1 and AGO2. It is essential that these proteins must evolve fast, as the viruses have a rapid adapting capability.

It was found during research that as AGO2 proteins indeed evolved much faster than that of AGO1 counterparts; however the speed was not the same in vertebrates. Over the time the capacity and speed of these Argonaute proteins have decreased. It is also true that with the developing of a secondary immune system in which antibodies, interferons, and T-cells are there to fight viruses; these proteins have lost their significance. Due to this it is found that RNA interference is more effective in insects than humans. We now depend upon other antibodies.

Content Source: www.sciencedaily.com

By: Anita Aishvarya