You’re right—this is a touching, in depth, and fascinating article. Schizophrenia has caused a lot of pain for a lot of people, and it’s encouraging to hear of people researching to find remedies.
This account is based on evolutionary theory, as if the theory were fact. There are other possibilities. What is being described as a retrovirus, may simply be a strand of non-coding DNA which serves a specific function in both humans and monkeys, just as a certain engine part may be used in both a lawnmower and a weed-eater. What happened six thousand, or sixty million, years ago cannot be observed, so the geneticists’ account can be based only on their interpretation of forensic evidence
In the past few years, geneticists have pieced together an account of how Perron’s retrovirus entered our DNA. Sixty million years ago, a lemurlike animal—an early ancestor of humans and monkeys—contracted an infection. It may not have made the lemur ill, but the retrovirus spread into the animal’s testes (or perhaps its ovaries), and once there, it struck the jackpot: It slipped inside one of the rare germ line cells that produce sperm and eggs. When the lemur reproduced, that retrovirus rode into the next generation aboard the lucky sperm and then moved on from generation to generation, nestled in the DNA.
Sabunciyan has found that an unexpectedly large amount of the RNA produced in the brain—about 5 percent—comes from seemingly “junk” DNA, which includes endogenous retroviruses...Here, the assumption is that endogenous retroviruses are a part of ‘junk’ DNA. Yet ‘junk’ DNA is being discovered to have specific, necessary, and very important roles in body function. The article itself even recognizes that all ‘junk’ DNA isn’t really junk. It is very likely that there is no such thing as ‘junk’ DNA. If that is true, these ‘endogenous retroviruses’ may simply be normal DNA components that have always been present. And these normal components can be damaged by mutations, which are known to be almost always negative. In this case Perron’s retrovirus may simply be a section of normal DNA which is sometimes damaged in some way, thus predisposing a person to disease.
As far as schizophrenia itself, as well as other mental disorders, one cannot say it has a simple cause—there are both nature and nurture components. Since the article states that all people carry the retrovirus for Schizophrenia, there must be other factors which explain why some people get sick and others don’t. The article focuses on biological factors such as illness and strength of one’s immune system. Early trauma in general, whether it’s from disease, abuse, or natural disasters, can trigger emotional disorders. While problems such as schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder occur even in high functioning, emotionally healthy families, the rates of occurrence are higher in chaotic, dysfunctional families. So what you have are a bunch of factors working together—if none are present, illness isn’t likely (but still possible), but if many factors are present (illness, trauma, family dysfunction, poor immune system, other yet unknown factors), the odds of getting sick are much greater. In the story of the twins at the beginning of the article, one twin was physically healthy at birth, while the other was ill and may have been born with a poorer immune system (the article doesn’t say). In addition, the ill twin had to stay in the hospital for a month—it’s quite likely that this twin didn’t get the nurturing and loving physical contact that the healthy twin at home did—this would be an additional emotional trauma for the child, possibly leading to attachment issues. It could also be that the Perron’s retrovirus (or normal DNA component, depending on one’s worldview) in the sick twin had been damaged in some way (while not discussed in the article, it could be a subject of future research). So, the factors add up, making the sick twin much more likely to experience Schizophrenia or some other mental disorder.
Overall, based on this article, I’d say the research is probably valid, but the evolutionary assumptions are not. One doesn’t have to know where this strand of DNA (Perron’s retrovirus) came from in order to study the effects it can have on people. The researchers discovered important information, and I can see several avenues for further study and exploration.
Susan
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