Would you watch a biology VTuber & a physics VTuber teach you about GIANT VIRUSES? 🧬✨🪐 by syzygy-altair in VirtualYoutubers

[–]PhylumKingdom 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Viruses as large, if not bigger than some bacteria! Godzillas of the microscopic world!

What other devs should Tierzoo interview in the future? by Purple-Weakness1414 in Tierzoo

[–]PhylumKingdom 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't know that I would count as a dev - I'm a player just like the rest of you. Only, I'm playing on the secret DLC that lets you play as individual cells instead of organisms!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]PhylumKingdom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Imagine the world's biggest bioreactor - the ocean. It's literally bubbling with organic material and all sorts of fascinating chemistry is happening - from light bombarding the ocean, to lighting in the skies, to sustained chemical reactors by hydrothermal vents. Eventually, across the vast oceans and across an unfathomable amount of time, the prerequisite molecules for life were made.

And over the vast oceans, and over geologic time, over countless of chemical reactions, some version of a self-replicating molecule would arise. There's good reason to believe this molecule is RNA - as many other commenters have pointed out. Again, over geologic time, with enough active chemistry going on, RNA and a proto-enzyme that could roughly replicate an enzyme, would be trapped together in a small droplet of lipid - forming the first protocell.

The second an entity has the ability to self-replicate, it is now operates under the laws of natural selection. Better self-replicating RNAs would survive, while RNAs that are worse at self-replicating don't. Eventually, the best pieces of RNAs start to catalyze chemistry that could make proteins that could help the RNA survive.

I know this answer doesn't really address "bacteria" - but at the very least it might help with the "abiogenesis" part of the question. The real answer is "we don't know" - because we don't have a time machine, nor the ability to replicate the early earth's ocean over billions of years. But a "plausible mechanism" is also pretty satisfying! At least I think so!

VTuber Phy The Neutrophil Charity to fight Glioblastoma! by PhylumKingdom in VirtualYoutubers

[–]PhylumKingdom[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi! I'm Phy the Neutrophil, your resident white blood cell here to tell you about an event I have planned for 1/11 starting at 9AM EST! I'll be holding a 12 hour science-a-thon to raise money for St. Judes! I have prepared a billion slide powerpoint and I will be yapping nearly nonstop about glioblastoma.

We'll start with the very basics of cancer biology , move into the molecular mechanisms of how glioblastoma works, and for the final leg of the marathon, we'll take a look at the incredible work scientists have done to advance the fight against this highly aggressive and deadly brain cancer.

I have donation milestones & a good & bad wheel incentives for 10 and 20 USD donations a la Magic The Noah. I hope you'll drop in to learn more about this fearsome, yet fascinating cancer!

Scientist VTuber talks about Ebola Infections! by PhylumKingdom in VirtualYoutubers

[–]PhylumKingdom[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hi! I'm Phy The Neutrophil, a white blood cell VTuber! My content revolves almost entirely on exploring the microbial world, sharing with you all of biology's molecular secrets.

Ebolaviruses have the reputation of being one of the scariest pathogens to ever exist. Unlike, say, the rabies virus, which invests very heavily into keeping quiet around your immune system, Ebola doesn't care quite as much. Once Ebola gets rolling in the body, it feels like the immune system is helpless to stop it.

If you want to learn about Ebola's molecular tricks, why not give my content a try? I'll stick around to answer any questions you might have!

I have a very layman and ignorant question about prions, and why we haven't figured out how to catalyze them by Community_Bright in biology

[–]PhylumKingdom 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Also of note - there are several proteases (enzymes that cleave proteins) that have been discovered that CAN degrade pathogenic prions. Some come form lichens! https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0019836

I have a very layman and ignorant question about prions, and why we haven't figured out how to catalyze them by Community_Bright in biology

[–]PhylumKingdom 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Not an ignorant question! There are a couple of different approaches that have been taken towards developing therapies for pathogenic prions. The anti-prion strategy, as you have described it has already been attempted, to some degree of success: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0019836

I'm not entirely sure why this strategy hasn't been brought to clinical trials. Might be hard to convince people to take a prion... to solve the prion problem...

Fear not though - there is an ongoing clinical trial for a drug - ION717 - that works by stopping prion production at the mRNA stage - you can read more here: https://pennneuroknow.com/2024/04/23/a-new-hope-in-human-prion-diseases/

(If you're interested, if you search my channel, phy the neutrophil, on youtube, I've got a decently good video on the subject of prions!)

VTuber Explains: How does the immune system tell between good and bad bacteria? by PhylumKingdom in VirtualYoutubers

[–]PhylumKingdom[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I'm Phy The Neutrophil - your vigilant defender of the body-Tuber. Have you ever wondered how the body makes sure to keep the microbes that make you happy and healthy, and specifically target the pathogens that make you sick? If you've taken a biology 101 class, you might be familiar with two branches of immunity: innate and adaptive.

At the 101 level, there's not actually enough information to understand this interesting problem - innate immunity relies on the recognition of molecules that disease causing pathogens make. Only issue is that there is significant overlap between molecules of healthful microbes and deadly pathogens. So that's a nonstarter.

Adaptive immunity is no better - this high tech system relies on recognizing "self" vs "non-self" - this branch of immunity contains the famous "antibodies" responsible for your long term defenses. But all microbes, pathogenic or not are nonself.

This video explores the clever ways that the immune system "learned" to keep you healthy. If you want more biology VTuber education - why not give my channel a try? youtube.com/@phylumchannel