Brain Cells Use Gene That Came From Viruses to Communicate

The gene Arc is active in neurons and plays a vital role in the brain. It is key to “transducing the information from those experiences into changes in the brain,” said Jason Shepherd from the University of Utah, who has been studying Arc for years to The Atlantic. A million years ago, when animals were starting to crawl on land, one creature was infected with a virus that stuck with the creature. The virus was passed down through generations and transformed into important parts of the creature’s biology. That’s how Arc came to be. It is a repurposed viral gene that creates proteins that assemble into hollow spheres which still look a lot like viruses under the microscope. Even though it is incredibly important, it has been difficult to study because Arc is one-of-a-kind and mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians all have their own versions of Arc. It descends from a viral gene called gag, writes The Atlantic, which retroviruses like HIV use to build the protein shells that enclose their genetic material.