Myelin is a gift from retroviruses

A viable molecular explanation for the origin of compact myelin of vertebrates has been a long time coming. While many invertebrates are certainly capable of wrapping their axons with crude glial extensions, none can manage anything like the massive spiral elaborations of crystalline proteolipid membrane found in the oligodendrocytes of the central nervous system and the Schwann cells of the peripheral.


Click here for original story, Myelin is a gift from retroviruses


Source: Phys.org