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/sci/ - Science & Math

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5117122 No.5117122[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Hello, /sci/

/lit/ here. I'm writing a short story for one of my classes. it involves a researcher trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious new disease. Ultimately the pathogen itself is irrelevant to the story, but a virus is ruled out. There is, however, a pathogen that the researcher talks about, but I can't remember the actual name of it. It's much more simple than a virus, essentially just a free floating strand of RNA. It's very similar to a plasmid, but I know that's not the name of it. I also remember that they usually cause diseases in plants as opposed to animals or humans. can any of you guys help me out?

>> No.5117123

It's a prion or a viroid.

>> No.5117129

>>5117123

scratch that it's just a viroid

>> No.5117141

>>5117123
OP here. Prion's the word that jogged my memory. why scratch that, though? what exactly is a viroid?

>> No.5117151

>>5117141

Well what you're describing is definitely a viroid. Viroids are extremely small stretches of usually circular RNA surrounded by a simple protein coat that usually infect plants. Prions are misfolded proteins that provide a template for other proteins to misfold off of.

>> No.5117164

>>5117151
good to know. so what, exactly then is the difference between a viroid and a plasmid?

>> No.5117179

>>5117164

plasmids are composed of DNA, and are much much larger than viroids. Plasmids can be anywhere from 1 to 1000 kilobases long while viroids have around 200 to 500 bases. DNA in bacteria usually forms into plasmids rather than into a nucleus, while viroids are virus like in that they are surrounded by a small protein coat and are incapable of reproducing themselves with their own machinery.

>> No.5117198

>>5117179
Thanks man. Big help.

If I were to run a synopsis of the short story by you guys, would any on you be interested in proofing it to make sure that aren't any major /sci/ related fuck ups. (be forewarned, it's scifi involving both aliens and biology, which is what I've been told causes many of you guys to shit yourselves in autismal rage)