The New York Times , May 5, 2009Link Evolutionary biology may
sometimes seem like an arcane academic pursuit, but just try
telling that to Gavin Smith, a virologist at Hong Kong
University. For the past week, Dr. Smith and six other experts
on influenza in Hong Kong, Arizona, California and Britain have
been furiously analyzing the new swine flu to figure out how and
when it evolved. The first viruses from the outbreak were
isolated late last month, but Dr. Smith and his colleagues
report on their Web site that the most recent common ancestor of
the new viruses existed 6 to 11 months ago. “It could just have
been going under the radar,” Dr. Smith said. The current
outbreak shows how complex and mysterious the evolution of
viruses is. That complexity and mystery are all the more
remarkable because a virus is life reduced to its essentials. A
human influenza virus, for example, is a protein shell measuring
about five-millionths of an inch across, with 10 genes inside.
(We have about 20,000.) Some viruses use DN