On episode #330 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiVers explain how a protein platform assists the hepatitis C virus RNA polymerase to begin the task of making viral genomes. You can find TWiV #330 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
The enzymes that make copies of the DNA or RNA genomes of viruses – nucleic acid polymerases – can be placed into two broad categories depending on whether or not they require a primer, a short piece of DNA or RNA, to get going. The structure of the primer-independent RNA polymerase of hepatitis C virus reveals …
On episode #329 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiV team reviews identification of immune biomarkers in CFS/ME patients, and how a cell nuclease controls the innate immune response to vaccinia virus infection. You can find TWiV #329 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
Viruses can be broadly classified according to whether or not the particle is enveloped – surrounded by a membrane taken from the host cell – or naked. Some naked viruses apparently are more modest than we believed. Members of the family Picornaviridae, which include Hepatitis A virus, poliovirus, and Coxsackieviruses, have non-enveloped particles that consist of a protein shell …
On episode #328 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiVocateurs discuss how the RNA polymerase of enteroviruses binds a component of the splicing machinery and inhibits mRNA processing. You can find TWiV #328 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease of cervids (deer, elk, moose). It was first detected in Wyoming and Colorado, and has since spread rapidly throughout North America (illustrated; image credit). Because prions that cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, mad cow disease) are known to infect humans, there is concern that CWD might also cross the …
