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Think your DNA is all human? Think again. And a new discovery suggests it’s even less human than scientists previously thought.
Nineteen new pieces of non-human DNA—left by viruses that first infected our ancestors hundreds of thousands of years ago—have just been found, lurking between our own genes.
And one stretch of newfound DNA, found in about 50 of the 2,500 people studied, contains an intact, full genetic recipe for an entire virus, say the scientists who published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Whether or not it can replicate, or reproduce, it isn’t yet known. But other studies of ancient virus DNA have shown it can affect the humans who carry it.
In addition to finding these new stretches, the scientists also confirmed 17 other pieces of virus DNA found in human genomes by other scientists in recent years.
The study looked at the entire span of DNA, or genome, from people from around the world, including a large number from Africa—where the ancestors of modern humans originated before migrating around the world. The team used sophisticated techniques to compare key areas of each person’s genome to the “reference” human genome.
Read full, original post: More ancient viruses lurk in our DNA than we thought
