Our mouths and guts are teeming with mysterious somethings that are unknown to science, new research suggests.
A team says theyve discovered distinct virus-like structures hanging out among the bacteria that live in our bodies.
Viruses are small packages of genetic material made of either DNA or RNA enclosed inside a protective protein shell.
An illustration of bacteria and viruses.Illustration: MP Art (Shutterstock)
Scientists still argue over whether this inherently parasitic attribute disqualifies viruses from being considered a form of life.
To date, viroids have only conclusively been found in plants.
But some recent studies have indicated that similar agents infect other forms of life, too.
The teams findings are preliminary, so they should be viewed with added caution for the time being.
And they seem to carry genes that have never been seen in any other organisms.
We also dont know if and how they might affect human cells or our health in general.
And were still unclear about how all these things came to exist in the first place.
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