Mobile genetic elements

Hello.

I am actually writing this yesterday, because right now I'm alone since everyone else is at school or work so I have time, and tomorrow you'll be here so I'll maybe have something else to do while everyone else is gone.
Anyway.

I said last week I didn't want to talk about biology again, but DNA has once again been able to confuse me bad. But don't worry, I'll keep it brief, since I'll see you tonight (aka last night) anyway.

So, I have during the last week learned that there's this thing in the world called mobile genetic elements. They are pretty much what they sound like: pieces of genetic material that are capable of moving around instead of sitting still in a chromosome in the genome. There are two types of these genetic elements.

The first ones jump around in the genome of a cell. There are these in the human genome too. And in every other genome, I suppose. They don't really matter much, unless they jump to a spot that is in the middle of a gene that is really needed in a cell, in which case it might be bad. Cause, you know, having some junk in the middle of a gene kinda makes it difficult to use the gene. Of course there are exons and introns and stuff that mean that you can use a gene with useless (in the particular case) stuff in between, but the cell knows it's there and takes it away.
Anyway, there used to be a lot more of these pieces of DNA roaming around the human genome, but during the millions of years most of them have gotten some mutations that prevent them from moving around, so now they're just part of the genome as junk DNA (which, as it turns out, isn't so much junk as the scientists first realising it was there thought, but that's a whole other story).

The other kind of mobile genetic elements are capable of moving out of the cell and then around to other cells.
They are more widely known as viruses.

And this is part when my reaction was pretty much "waitwait...what?"

In school we have been thought, that viruses are these things kinda like bacteria, except they only have a protein coat and some genetic material and maybe some other parts, so they're not alive. But they can make you sick.
And now, suddenly, having heard viruses called mobile genetic elements, I have a whole other perspective to them.
Viruses aren't actually unliving creatures that go around infecting people with their DNA and forcing a cell to make copies of themselves.
They are sneaky bits of genetic material, that are capable of creeping into a cells genome and tricking it to produce more of the same kind of genetic material, and then a vessel for itself that it can use to get out of the cell and go roam around.
They're like a bad guy getting into the secret headquarters and tricking the leaders into building him some spaceships that he then takes off in with a bunch of friends to go trick more leaders and make more friends and spaceships.
Viruses are not a thing infecting cells with genetic material. It's genetic material smart enough to trick someone to build it a vehicle that it can use to move around.

Whhooooa.

It's not even like this is new information as such. It's just a whole new perspective to looking at it that I never realised was there.

Anyway.
Maybe that's enough for today. I'll see you in ten hours. Or fourteen hours ago, which ever way you want to think about it.

~matu