'Obelisks': Entirely New Class of Life Has Been Found in The Human Digestive System

'Obelisks' are similar to viroids, the smallest infectious agents. Smaller even that viruses, or depending on one's definition the smallest viruses/ virii if you will. And therefore are not a class of living creatures. I'm not sure why Nature chose this headline.

Here's the cited paper in BioRxiv: Viroid-like colonists of human microbiomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.20.576352v1

Previously, I had learned about viroids, as the smallest infectious agents, primarily in plants. However there is one known in humans, Hepatitis D, a viroid that uses Hepatitis B to be able to reproduce, as it would otherwise be incapable. Here's a link to TWIV 979: Flushing out the viroids (https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-979/). Fascinating.

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'Obelisks' are similar to viroids, the smallest infectious agents. Smaller even that viruses, or depending on one's definition the smallest viruses/ virii if you will. And therefore are not a class of living creatures. I'm not sure why Nature chose this headline.
Here's the cited paper in BioRxiv: Viroid-like colonists of human microbiomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.20.576352v1
Previously, I had learned about viroids, as the smallest infectious agents, primarily in plants. However there is one known in humans, Hepatitis D, a viroid that uses Hepatitis B to be able to reproduce, as it would otherwise be incapable. Here's a link to TWIV 979: Flushing out the viroids (https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-979/). Fascinating.
“This study has yet to be peer reviewed” fwiw