3min chapter

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#216 – Vincent Racaniello: Viruses and Vaccines

Lex Fridman Podcast

CHAPTER

RNA Viruses Are Much Faster Than RNA Virals

RNA viruses exist at their error threshold, which means they can't make any more mutations when they reproduce otherwise they're dead. DNA viruses are hundreds of times lower than their error thresholds. So they evolve much faster than RNA viruses? Much faster. Now why that is is a good question, but that's the reason why RNA viruses are far more successful. They change hosts really quickly because in any animal harboring an RNA virus it's not just one genome.

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