Link between virus and reproduction on Earth

By formally identifying the main player in the fusion between two male and female sex cells, researchers from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS and Paris Descartes University, together with American and German teams, have revealed the probable viral origin of this fusion process, which is common to a vast number of living organisms on Earth. In addition, the study provides new lines of research for therapeutic possibilities, aiming to block this fusion in pathogens which use it, such as the malaria agent. These findings were published in the Cell journal on February 23, 2017.

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