VonGooberschnozzle t1_jbnpy5x wrote on March 10, 2023 at 10:33 AM

Spiegelman's Monster is the minimum viable RNA chain, made by selecting the fastest breeding viruses. 48 or 54 nucleotides is the smallest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegelman%27s_Monster

AmoraCon t1_jboup1r wrote on March 10, 2023 at 4:19 PM

Is that as dangerous as it sounds?

Nemisis_the_2nd t1_jboxavk wrote on March 10, 2023 at 4:36 PM

Not really. It was grown in highly specific conditions in a lab. If it got out, it would probably be broken down incredibly quickly.

[deleted] t1_jbp7tek wrote on March 10, 2023 at 5:43 PM

[removed]

TheGreenJedi t1_jbp64eu wrote on March 10, 2023 at 5:32 PM

Keep in mind it lacks a lot of defensive mutations

If the wrong mutations from this cell however occured elsewhere either by exposure or naturally replicated similar genes that'd certainly be concerning

PlacatedPlatypus t1_jbp0a0l wrote on March 10, 2023 at 4:55 PM

Sounds a lot like a retrotransposon, which aren't particularly dangerous.

LitLitten t1_jbowstl wrote on March 10, 2023 at 4:33 PM

It’s just an RNA chain really.

The original bacteriophage virus used to harvest the first chain only infected certain bacterium such as E. Coli, fwiw.

The actual replication environment is highly specific and required special solutions.

somebunnny t1_jboyck2 wrote on March 10, 2023 at 4:43 PM

There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is?