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Air is full of DNA

nature.com

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Re: Air is full of DNA

#21

Post by Terr_ »

smolder wrote: post #15
butvacuum wrote: post #2

buried the lede, imho: we have enough DNA profiles to match their sampling up with. I'm always stunned when reminded that a full genome sequencing has gone from Human Genome Project's extreme cost and (edit: glacial) speed to using seqencing as the easy button. I hear we've also got machines that'll seqence, fit on a bench, and cost high five/low six figures. They've got issues to work out still though- iirc somethin…

Paleontology has been really helped by the ease of sequencing, to the point where many evolutionary arguments are moot. Humans are apes, birds are dinosaurs. Some people still dispute it, but not with evidence on their side.

> Some people still dispute it

I particularly like this Futurama clip on the subject. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VzGtk7Ip4NU

Re: Air is full of DNA

#23

Post by scotty79 »

madaxe_again wrote: post #13

I was chatting with a biologist friend a while back, and one tidbit he dropped in was that any sample of air from anywhere on earth will likely contain the dna of organisms unknown to science, so abundant the tree of life is.

I firmly believe that there are thousands of times more species of viruses in circulation that influence human health, almost always in minor fashion, than we currently know. Any random, sub-clinical symptom is in my belief highly likely to be caused by one of such viruses.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#24

Post by dkobia »

This always blows my mind. We are currently breathing in the DNA of the trees, animals, and people around us—and we’re leaving ours behind for them, too. We’re all one big genetic soup.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#26

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

dkobia wrote: post #24

This always blows my mind. We are currently breathing in the DNA of the trees, animals, and people around us—and we’re leaving ours behind for them, too. We’re all one big genetic soup.

> This always blows my mind. We are currently breathing in the DNA of the trees,

At this time of year, believe me, I am aware of the inhaled tree DNA setting off my pollen allergies.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#27

Post by pfdietz »

smolder wrote: post #15
butvacuum wrote: post #2

buried the lede, imho: we have enough DNA profiles to match their sampling up with. I'm always stunned when reminded that a full genome sequencing has gone from Human Genome Project's extreme cost and (edit: glacial) speed to using seqencing as the easy button. I hear we've also got machines that'll seqence, fit on a bench, and cost high five/low six figures. They've got issues to work out still though- iirc somethin…

Paleontology has been really helped by the ease of sequencing, to the point where many evolutionary arguments are moot. Humans are apes, birds are dinosaurs. Some people still dispute it, but not with evidence on their side.

> birds are dinosaurs

Not that I doubt that, but how does DNA help, when we have no DNA samples from dinosaurs?

Re: Air is full of DNA

#28

Post by red75prime »

dkobia wrote: post #24

This always blows my mind. We are currently breathing in the DNA of the trees, animals, and people around us—and we’re leaving ours behind for them, too. We’re all one big genetic soup.

"Soup" is a good word. Pieces of DNA resulting from destruction by nucleases and other enzymes.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#29

Post by rcxdude »

madaxe_again wrote: post #13

I was chatting with a biologist friend a while back, and one tidbit he dropped in was that any sample of air from anywhere on earth will likely contain the dna of organisms unknown to science, so abundant the tree of life is.

Yeah, there's just so many microorganisms (and some evolve so quickly) it would basically be impossible to really enumerate the species.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#30

Post by gus_massa »

dkobia wrote: post #24

This always blows my mind. We are currently breathing in the DNA of the trees, animals, and people around us—and we’re leaving ours behind for them, too. We’re all one big genetic soup.

The immune system destroy all the DNA in unexpected places in case it's a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viroid or something. Better safe than sorry.

One of the important steps in mRNA vaccines was to surround the mRNA with a lipid to ensure it can survive long enough to enter a cell. Naked mRNA would not have worked.

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