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nessed a golden age of genome proj-

ects. We have mapped the human ge-

nome, the corn genome and genomes

for many thousands of species of mi-

crobes, fungi, animals and plants.

With all this information, the more

we look, the more we find ancient vi-

ruses hiding inside our genomes, as

well as those of other creatures.

Almost 8% of the human genome

is made up of viruses that once in-

fected us but have been rendered

inactive. That fact is even more as-

tounding when you consider

that genes—the part of DNA

that codes for proteins—com-

prise only 2% of our genome.

We have four times more viral

genetic material inside our ge-

nome than our own genes.

Our genome is a graveyard

for ancient viruses. Disabled

viral fragments lie throughout;

their wings have been clipped

because they lack the se-

quences to jump from genome

to genome. These viruses at-

tacked our ancestors’ genomes

eons ago, only to be disabled,

and now lie as remnants of in-

fections past. The memory

gene Arc is a virus that long

ago invaded, only to be put to

work on an important bodily

function. The tables were

turned: The hacker, the invad-

ing parasite, was itself hacked

to our benefit.

The ability to make spheres

to move genetic material from

cell to cell, so essential in the

spread of infections such as

AIDS, became useful to our

distant ancestors. Researchers

looking at the history of Arc

have found that fish don’t have

it, but their descendants—am-

phibians, reptiles, birds and

mammals—do. The ancient

fish that evolved to walk on

land about 375 million years

ago, it seems, got an infection

that would change the course

of history and, ultimately, our

own abilities.

We live in a state of war be-

tween viral invaders and our

own genome. One outcome can

be that viruses take over and we be-

come ill. The other is that viruses

can be the source of new genetic in-

ventions—fuel for evolutionary

change.

Viruses are microscopic pieces of

genetic material capable of wreak-

ing havoc on our world and disrupt-

ing our interactions with one an-

other. Yet new insights into

genomes, and four billion years of

the history of life, offer another side

of the story. Each one of us is part

virus, in ways that affect who we

are and what we can do.

Dr. Shubin is a professor of biology

and anatomy at the University of

Chicago. This essay is adapted

from his new book “Some Assem-

bly Required: Decoding 4 Billion

Years of Life Using Ancient Fossils

and DNA,” which Pantheon will

publish on March 17.

A

virus is the stuff of
mystery and fear, an
invisibly lurking dan-
ger ready to spread
explosively around
the globe. The new coronavirus, like
SARS, MERS and the seasonal flu,
enters our bodies, finds its way in-
side our DNA and commandeers it
to make more copies of itself. Vi-
ruses are, in many ways, the ulti-
mate parasites.
Yet we, like every other
creature on Earth, have a com-
plex relationship with them.
Many of the traits that make
viruses so effective at transmit-
ting disease also make them an
essential part of our genetic
makeup. As it turns out, their
contributions to our genome
over the eons account for a
range of important human
qualities.
Viruses sit at the edge of
our definition of living things.
They are tiny bits of genetic
material enclosed by a protec-
tive shell. Alone, they sit life-
less and inert, waiting for a fa-
vorable environment in which
to reproduce. Viruses are car-
ried to their unwilling hosts by
insects, droplets in the air, con-
tact with infected surfaces and
other mechanisms that bring
cells of different species to-
gether.
When a virus encounters a
host cell, a chain reaction of
molecular events is set in mo-
tion: The virus attaches itself to
the outer wall of the cell, enters
inside, travels to the cell’s ge-
nome, merges with its genes
and then tricks the host’s ge-
nome into making copies of it-
self.
The host cell becomes a fac-
tory for new viruses and can
produce as many as a million
of them before it dies. This ex-
plosive growth can happen si-
multaneously in tissues
throughout the body. As the
virus spreads in one individ-
ual’s body, it can escape via
water droplets expelled from the air
in the lungs, sweat produced by
sweat glands or fluids produced by
other organs, thereby passing the
infection to others.
This selfish behavior makes vi-
ruses, as a Darwinian matter, enor-
mously successful. There is an almost
unfathomable number of them in and
around us all the time. By some esti-
mates, the number of viruses in the
oceans alone is as large as a 10 with
31 zeros behind it. All told, there are
more viruses on Earth than there are
stars in the known universe.
What’s more, viruses are incredi-
bly diverse and ever evolving. That is
why we need a new flu vaccine each
year and suffer from emerging dis-
eases like Covid-19 with increasing
regularity.
But researchers at the University
of Utah came away with a different
BRIAN STAUFFERtake on viruses while working in

BYNEILSHUBIN

2016 on a gene that plays a role in

the ability to make memories. Mice

with a mutation in this gene, known

as Arc, can find their way through a

maze with cheese in the center but—

unlike mice with the normal Arc

gene—can’t remember their path

through the maze the next day. In

humans, changes to Arc have been

linked to a range of disorders, from

schizophrenia to dementia. Arc is a

gene that memories are made of.

To understand the gene, the team

in Utah isolated the protein it made

and put it under a powerful micro-

scope. The lead researcher, Jason

Shepherd, saw that the protein

formed spheres that were visible at

high magnification. That structure

set off alarm bells for him: He was

sure he had seen such spheres when

he took a course in infectious dis-

eases in his early days in graduate

school. The Arc protein had spher-

ules that looked exactly like those

made by HIV, the virus that causes

AIDS.

Dr. Shepherd gave the slide to vi-

ral specialists working in the build-

ing next door without telling them

what was on it. The virus experts

were sure they were looking at

spheres made by HIV.

When the team sequenced the

gene for Arc, decoding the string of

molecules that make it up, they

were in for an even bigger surprise.

This memory gene was, for all pur-

poses, a modified virus.

The virus that causes AIDS

makes protein spheres because they

protect HIV’s genes as they journey

from cell to cell in its host. As it

turns out, the same thing happens

with the memory gene, Arc, which

also works by moving genetic infor-

mation from cell to cell. The viral

strategy of making protein spheres,

which is so dangerous in disease,

works to our benefit in Arc.

Memory genes aren’t the only

ones derived from viruses in our

bodies. Genes that make proteins at

work in the placenta, so essential

for human reproduction, also arose

from viruses. When a team from

Germany did a computational

search of the human genome, they

found that as many as 85 genes de-

rived from viruses may be at work

in different parts of the brain and

during pregnancy.

The past two decades have wit-

Many of the traits that make these ultimate parasites

so effective at transmitting disease also make them an essential

part of our own genetic makeup.

There are more

viruses on Earth

than there are

stars in the known

universe.

The Viruses That

Shaped Our DNA

REVIEW

In similar

straits,

they

didn’t

fare well.

Will they

do better

now?

THE COUNTRY WAS SCARED.

Financial markets were shaking.

There were serious doubts about

whether the country’s institu-

tions could handle a challenge of

historic proportions.

A description of the coronavi-

rus outbreak? No, that’s a sum-

mary of the atmosphere during

the financial meltdown of 2008,

the last time America’s financial,

political and social institutions

faced a confidence-shaking mo-

ment comparable to today’s. And

in that case, the institutions

didn’t emerge in great shape.

In fact, we are still living with

the consequences: The tea party

movement, a populist uprising

and a general decline in public

confidence were among the re-

sults. To some extent, a resulting

slide of faith in “the establish-

ment” helped lead to the elec-

tion of Donald Trump.

Now the country’s institu-

tions face a challenge of similar

proportions—except, in this

case, they begin in an atmo-

sphere of lower trust and confi-

dence. It is a moment when

those institutions could slide

further—or begin to bounce

back. “I’m very worried, to be

honest,” says Tony Fratto, who

CAPITAL

JOURNAL

GERALD F.
SEIB

was a senior Trea-

sury and White

House aide during

the George W.

Bush administra-

tion and had a

front-row seat for

the 2008 crisis. “We’re starting

with a much lower level of trust,

and we have people actively en-

couraging the idea that it’s all a

conspiracy to create chaos and

undermine the president.”

In the 2008 slide, neither the

financial system nor the political

system seemed prepared for the

crisis, and stumbled their way to

solutions. Bear Stearns was

bailed out by the government,

while Lehman Brothers was al-

lowed to go bust. The House of

Representatives first rejected a

bank bailout plan—and then ac-

cepted one after the stock mar-

ket undertook a frightening dive

caused by the House rejection.

Ultimately, though, the White

House and Congress managed to

work across party lines save

both the financial system and

the imperiled auto companies

without resorting to the most

extreme measures that were on

the table: nationalization of

banks and car makers.

President Trump

at first played

down the corona-

virus risk pub-

licly, a tone he

likely will come

to regret, yet also

took a key and

positive early

step to limit the

damage by re-

stricting travel

from China. Then,

in an address to

the nation

Wednesday night,

he tried to raise

public awareness

of the risk—but in

the process mis-

stated one of his administra-

tion’s key measures, sowing

confusion and doubt over

whether a new ban on travel

from Europe will cover move-

ment of goods as well as peo-

ple. (It won’t.) Stock market fu-

tures plunged as the president

spoke.

The jury remains out, mean-

while, on whether Congress can

rapidly come up with a biparti-

san plan to limit economic

damage and help average

Americans feeling the impact.

Meantime, the inability of the

health-care bureaucracy to pro-

duce badly needed testing kits

is helping to spread fear and

perhaps the virus itself. Dr. An-

thony Fauci, director of the Na-

tional Institute of Allergy and

Infectious Diseases and perhaps

the nation’s most trusted medi-

cal professional at the moment,

told Congress this week it was

a “failing” of the system not to

have more coronavirus testing

kits available.

Still, there are some key dif-

ferences between today’s crisis

and 2008, as well as some posi-

tive early signs. For starters, nei-

ther the financial nor the politi-

cal establishment is seen as

having caused this crisis, as was

the case with the financial crisis.

Perhaps more important, this

crisis is increasing the depen-

dence on, and perhaps apprecia-

tion for, some less showy institu-

tions that start with more public

trust: the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, the

medical establishment and local

health agencies, for example.

And this time, there is so lit-

tle expectation of, or trust in,

guidance from Washington that

a range of American institutions,

from state and local govern-

ments to private businesses to

churches to the National Basket-

ball Association, are striking out

on their own to make policies.

Those institutions may be gain-

ing rather than losing public

confidence in the process.

Some 2008-like land mines lie

ahead. For example, if govern-

ment policy ends up helping

cruise-ship companies, airlines

and energy companies but not

hourly wage earners, the popu-

list wave could grow further. On

that front, and others, the test-

ing time for America’s institu-

tions has arrived—once again. CHIP EAST/REUTERS

In the process,

though, populist

fireswerestoked

by the impression

that big institutions got a big-

ger and sturdier safety net than

did average Americans. In Wall

Street Journal/NBC News poll-

ing, the share of Americans

who said they had very little or

no confidence in the financial

industry soared to 55% in late

2008, from 30% a year earlier.

The resulting mistrust has

faded but hasn’t gone away.

“We have a whole generation

of Americans who believe that

leaders and companies who

survived the financial crisis did

it by gaming the system,” says

Mr. Fratto. Now, he adds, “I

don’t know where we go from

here if leaders fail to get to-

gether to show unified action

to limit the health and eco-

nomic damage that we could

see over the next few weeks.”

The initial signs are mixed.

Stocks plunged after

talks to rescue Lehman

Brothers ended in 2008.

Like 2008, a Testing

Time for American

Institutions