A viroid is smaller than a virus. It is a strand of RNA with 246 to 467 nucleotides in length. It is single-stranded, with extensive self-bonding between bases and forms into a fluctuating rod-like or branched structure. It does not produce proteins, has no capsid or membrane, and hijacks cell enzymes to copy itself with a circular rolling mechanism. Thus far, viroids are only found in plants. Also, they can contain ribozymes, which are RNA regions that are able to accuratel

The first signals from bacteria communicating to fellow comrades were discovered in the 1960s. It took 60 years of research to realize the intelligence of bacteria. The first virus signal was discovered in 2017 and in the nine years since then a vast amount of information has been discovered about virus communication. Much of the research has been in phage viruses––viruses that interact with and inhabit bacteria. It is clear now that phage viruses are not making decisions ba

Microbes demonstrate incredible sophistication in making effector molecules that have multi-layered effects. A previous post described how some of these newly created proteins are the exact shapes that alter epigenetic tags in host cells. They produce very particular genetic changes influencing cascades in the nucleus, mitochondria and Golgi that make life easier for an invading microbe. Just as microbes manipulate these vastly complex multi level processes, the secretory mac