Can the virus evolve/mutate?

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Permalink Reply by KilRoy on August 10, 2008 at 5:18pm

hmm...in that case it would have to be a man-made virus, since natural viruses can not mutate the infected.

if it where man-made, may we only hope that the virus doesn't make something like lickers or something of that sort...
<_br /> >_>

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Permalink Reply by Tyrant on August 10, 2008 at 5:19pm

Yeah....that wouldn't be a good thing at all.

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Permalink Reply by Tyrant on August 10, 2008 at 5:55pm

That prevents the decaying process, but it doesn't prevent physical mutations. IE: hands becoming claws/fingers getting fused together to become claws.

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Permalink Reply by Tyrant on August 10, 2008 at 6:07pm

Oh yeah....that's right.

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Permalink Reply by Ikiller101 on August 11, 2008 at 7:29pm

Yea if the viris is man made or natural its possable eather way so really its a crapshoot and besides evolution and mutation takes thousands of years in most cases this is a very complex viris we are talking about here it will have to compleatly change itself from outside in from cell composition,cell devision,basic functions such as takeing control of the victems body,infective mecinacis remember for evry change in something there is a pro an con well the natural instinct is to get rid of the con well there ya go it will change but as i said it will still have a con so it will change again so tecnicly it will kill itself given enough time

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Permalink Reply by kukri7980 on August 11, 2008 at 9:57pm

It's very posible, and in our life times too. I know it takes thousands of years for animals to evole, viruses are a diffrent story.
In 1988, a scientist named Richard Linskey conducted an experiment at Michigan State University called the E. coli long term evolution experiment. This is what Wikipedia said about it:

"The E. coli long-term evolution experiment (LTEE) is an ongoing study in experimental evolution led by Richard Lenski that has been tracking genetic changes in 12 initially nearly identical populations of asexual Escherichia coli bacteria since February 15, 1988. Since the experiment's inception, Lenski and his colleagues have reported a wide array of genetic changes; some evolutionary adaptations have occurred in all 12 populations, while others have only appeared in one or a few populations."
The life span of a virus is about the same as a bacteria. In 75 days, only TWO AND A HALF MONTHS, there will be 500 generations of E.coli bacteria.after 20 years, 40,00 generations. Now, apply that to an animal's life span, lets say a dog. Dogs usually live around 15, 20 years. For the sake of arguement lets go with the lower number. 15 years x 40000= 600000 years! Lots of room for evolution. Some of the E. coli evolved to be able to use the growth medium as food.
"In 2008, Lenski and his collaborators reported on a particularly important adaptation that occurred in one of the twelve populations: the bacteria evolved the ability to utilize citrate as a source of energy. Normally, E. coli cannot transport citrate from outside the cell to the cell interior (where it could be incorporated into the citric acid cycle); the lack of citrate transport is considered a defining characteristic of the species. Around generation 33,127, the experimenters noticed a dramatically expanded population-size in one of the samples; they found that this population could grow on the excess citrate in the growth medium."
Why couldn't solanum evolve after 20 years? It's a scary thought that there could be something worse than zombies!

Go to:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_experiment and check out the rest of that article.

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