THE IDEA of a last universal common ancestor provides a plausible and helpful, if incomplete, answer to where humans, oak trees and their ilk come from. There is no such answer for viruses. Being a virus is not something which provides you with a place in a vast, coherent family tree. It is more like a lifestyle—a way of being which different genes have discovered independently at different times. Some viral lineages seem to have begun quite recently. Others have roots that comfortably predate LUCA itself.
How to parse this sentence? Should I read it as :
- It is more like a lifestyle—a way of being (which different genes have) discovered independently at different times
- It is more like a lifestyle—a way of being (which different genes have discovered independently at different times)
- Isn't it werid to say "genes have discovered a lifestyle" in 2? What could that mean?
article link : https://www.economist.com/essay/2020/08/20/viruses-have-big-impacts-on-ecology-and-evolution-as-well-as-human-health