Aevita scribo
This tiny Palaean species lives in the waters of Zone 30. With a size of just around 100 nm, they’re in a unique position on Oefsy. They parasitise species such as F. despsoili, L. ferrum, P. draconem and even a fellow parasite, S. ferrumvora. Individuals of the species, which consist of an envelope around genetic information, will move up to and bind with receptor proteins on the cells of one of their host species. After doing so, the envelope will dissolve, releasing the genetic information into the cell, along with two enzymes. The first enzyme, reverse transcriptase, allows the genetic information of both the host cell and the individual of A. scribo to be combined such that it creates DNA complementary to that of the host, which can then be used by the second enzyme. The second enzyme, integrase, fuses the aforementioned DNA into the genome of the host cell. After this occurs, several alterations begin. The first, the main mechanism of A. scribo’s parasitism, is that the genetic information of the host cell is preserved and corrected by the fused A. scribo. This slows down mutation and ageing for the host cell, allowing A. scribo to make changes at its own pace. Second, it will cause the cell to create more A. scribo to spread to other nearby cells and cause them to become similarly altered. Finally, the code from A. scribo keeps getting duplicated within that of the host, making them hold that info dormant indefinitely, even long after the collapse of the original cell. Due to the additional steps and lack of ‘proof-reading’ during the duplication of the A. scribo genetic information, it has a significantly higher mutation rate than other species would especially compared to the host cells, who have as little mutation as possible because of A. scribo.