Considerations
Fundamental Bacterial Genetics by Nancy Trun and Janine Trempy also seems to bolster my case. It was copyright 2004 by Blackwell Science Ltd. I've found it interesting to read as well as a valuable reference. As has been mentioned, Dr. Trun herself doesn't endorse my notion that virus are male.
But what about the following?
On page 128 the reader learns that, ". . . in every milliliter of P1 lysate, there are enough transducing particles so that the entire chromosome of E. coli is represented many times."
For many readers, that may require translation: P1 is a virus infecting E. coli bacteria. Sometimes P1 contains a portion of the E. coli DNA--inserted in the virus along with other genes which pertain to viral functioning. If there's a large enough number of P1 viruses, the entire E. coli DNA will be represented, though in fragmented form.
That's consistent with the idea that all viruses are male, because, in more advanced plant and animal species, male sex gamete DNA and female sex gamete DNA are close to being exact copies of one another. Duplication of information can aid in preservation of that information, so a comparison might be made to a backup copy of computer data. And, similarly, the P1 viruses, collectively, contain a "backup" copy of the whole E. coli DNA.
Darwinism tells us that the fittest survive-but they also make copies of themselves as if biological nature were one vast bureaucracy devoted to no other purpose than making sure no scrap of useful information is ever lost.
And, with respect to the P1 virus, there's also another point. I sent e-mails to Drs. Trun, Trempy, and Missiakas in March 2008, but hadn't received any feedback from them at the time of the last modification of this material.
But there seemed to be a controversy in the popular media as whether "probiotic" bacteria are able to survive stomach acid. Such bacteria are in health foods, such as yogurt. If those bacteria can't get past stomach acid, then perhaps the bacteria aren't able to to do any good to the consumer.
But perhaps the hardy, fearless P1 viruses can survive the stomach acid. Then, in the lower digestive tract, where true romance is seldom lacking (according to Robert Benchly), surviving P1 viruses are able to transfer genes to those E. coli bacteria that exhibit the necessary charms and atttraction.
The sex life of E.coli may seem conplicated. When a bacterium divides, resulting progency are referred to by Trun and Trempy, as "daughter cells." "Progeny cells" would be a better term, because a so-called "daughter cell" may sometimes assume a "male" role following conjugation with a male bacterium. Also, if a bacterium which is already male divides, the two "daughter cells" from that division will both be male.
That state of affairs may eem foreign or complex. But male and female roles in today's bacteria and viruses, are probably much closer to the primeval origin of sex than what's found higher on the evolutionary tree today.
Earlier in this material I rejected the idea put forward by Jennifer Griffin (who was then at Princeton). She'd proposed that viruses are, essentially, bisexual. However, I'd say that "bisexual" would indeed be accurate for E. coli and probably also for some other bacterial classifications as well.
Most people are more familiar with information regarding "newer," or "more evolved", forms of sexual reproduction--in multicellular animals and plants. "Genesis" and "genetics" have the same linguistic root. Thus, religion and science have something in common in thought and language, despite the efforts by those who specialize in one area or another to disparage those in the other camp. The book of Genesis has a claim on one's thought and imagination because of its antiquity and as a basis for understanding later developments--even though it may also, at times, seem a bit puzzling. The genetics of bacteria and viruses has a similar quality.
It was the discovery of "male" bacteria or male elements in bacteria that seems to me to have fatally undermined the idea that viruses are "neuter": viruses function in a way that is similar to a "male" bacteria. Although male elements in bacteria were discovered more than a half centruy ago, microbiologists still don't seem to have quite sorted the matter out, in terms that could be described as "logical."
But, from an evolutionary point of view, it seems that the male gender may have originated with viruses—or, more precisely, perhaps in the relation between viruses and bacteria or in the virus-like F factors in bacteria. Consider a quote from Virology, 2nd. Ed. by Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, Paul C. Kimball, and Jay A Levy (1988, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632).
CONTINUE
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(See "Chapter 7 Bacteriophage," at left of screen)
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