Repost re: possible reservoir for Ebola/Marburg

[PeterMSull]

Forgive me for posting someone else's thoughts/writings on an important
subject, but I believe the ideas put forth by Walter Lundby a few months
back ( I save my sessions in this group for reference ) to be thought
provoking at least. Sometimes it takes one outside the field to see
something in a way in which people more "concentrated" otherwise may not.
So please forgive me Walter, but I think your proposal has become even
more relevant.

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Proposal:   the reservoir for the Marburg and Ebola Reston viruses might
not
be  in a living being but in a clay, shale or petrified wood deposit.

Reasoning:

1) A recent book on insect DNA preservation in amber mentions that very
old 
   DNA has been discovered in some clays and shales in a preserved if not 
   totally intact state. This book, also, mentions the possibility of
extracting 
   DNA from petrified wood.

2) Recent articles on possible origins of life have mentioned clay as an
    ideal substitute for cell walls for early RNA and DNA.

3) Kitum cave contains a petrified rain forest with petrified bones of
    ancient animals. I would assume that clay(s) would, also, be found.

4) As described in the "Hot Zone" elephants dig the rock (and clays) for 
   minerals and salts.

5) A search of the cave by a US-Kenya expedition turned up no reservoir
   animals.

6) As stated by Richard Preston in his book these viruses don't behave
like 
   parasites rather they behave like hunters. He then wonders what
life-form
   the viral reservoir is. To me it seems quite likely that if they do the
damage
   to so many life forms that they seem to do then it would be in keeping
with
   their behavior if no life-form was the reservoir, rather a inorganic
RNA
   "friendly" reservoir.

7) Richard Preston when describing the macaque monkeys with the initial
   sickness at Reston stated: "... In addition to vegetables and fruits,
they eat
   insects, grass, roots, and small pieces of clay..."

This isn't my area of expertise (computer scientist), but, I hope it
stimulates some useful thought in those whose area it is.

Walter Lundby
lundby at cig.mot.com or lundbys at xnet.com