Scientists find 'crazy' new lifeform hiding inside human bodies
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Scientists have discovered a 'crazy' new lifeform lurking inside our bodies. They found entirely new virus-like entities, named 'obelisks,' which are are circular bits of genetic material that contain one or two genes and self-organize into a rod-like shape.
![[The research team detected the obelisks by sifting through data from an RNA database containing thousands of sequences collected from human mouths, guts and other sources]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/21/93292027-14207419-image-a-43_1734558176195.jpg)
Obelisks appear in half of the world's population, but were only discovered when researchers were searching for patterns that didn't match any known organisms in genetic libraries. They colonize the bacteria inside the mouths and guts of humans, living inside their host for about one year, but scientists do not know how they spread.
![[The researchers believe these beings colonize bacterial cells in order to replicate, similarly to the way a virus infects a host and then replicates inside it]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/21/93292023-14207419-image-a-42_1734558169730.jpg)
Obelisks have genomes of loops of RNA that resemble viroids, which are viruses that infect plants, leaving experts puzzled to why they were found in human-associated bacteria. 'It's insane,' Mark Peifer, a cell and developmental biologist who was not involved in the research, told Science. 'The more we look, the more crazy things we see.'.
It is unclear if obelisks are harmful or beneficial, but the team suggested they could 'exist as stealthy evolutionary passengers.'. Scientists also said that these tiny, primitive entities may have played a critical role in shaping the biodiversity that exists on Earth today, as they could be capable of infecting organisms of many different species throughout their evolution.
Scientists have discovered a new lifeform called 'obelisks' lurking inside the bacteria that live in our guts and mouths (STOCK). Scientists aren't yet sure whether these newly discovered lifeforms can make people sick, but there is one species of viroid that can: Hepatitis D.
