by Elio
Students in Integrative Microbiology, a graduate course taught jointly by the University of California at San Diego and the San Diego State University, could fulfill an assignment by optionally answering either one of two specified Talmudic Questions. Their answers are now posted as comments under each of the posts. They make good reading.
Talmudic Question #30. Many bacteria, e.g., E. coli and B. subtilis, regulate their gene expression via a large number of distinct devices that operate on almost all conceivable biochemical levels. Why so many?
Talmudic Question # 6.With the buzz created by the discovery of giant viruses, e.g., Mimivirus, the distinction between viruses and cells is said to get blurred. I maintain that this is not the case because the single most important distinction is that viruses lose their corporeal integrity, cells do not. What do you think? Are you a blurrer or a non-blurrer?
