RNA viruses exist close to their error threshold, the point beyond which additional mutations cause loss of infectivity. It has been suggested that RNA recombination prevents viruses from exceeding the error threshold – a situation called error catastrophe – but there has been little experimental support for this hypothesis. An analysis of poliovirus RNA synthesis …
By my estimation, here in the northeastern US we are right in the middle of summer – which I define as July and August. It’s as good a time as any to talk about summer reading lists. As both a scientist and science communicator, I love reading how others explain the wonder of discovery. My …
Children who are exposed to Zika virus in utero may develop structural defects of the cranium such as microcephaly. Now we understand that even children born to Zika virus infected mothers may develop neurodevelopmental and neurosensory deficiencies in the second year of life – in the absence of microcephaly. During the 2015-16 Zika virus epidemic …
Zika virus infection causes neurological deficits without microcephaly Read More »
by Gertrud U. Rey Some viruses have a lipid envelope surrounding their protein capsid, which they get from the host cell membrane during the budding process. The envelope acts as an anchor for viral glycoproteins, which facilitate entry of the newly budded virus into a new cell by recognizing and binding host cell receptors. Such …
I don’t often post episodes of This Week in Microbiology here, but this one is different because it touches all fields of science. We had two guests in this episode, recorded at ASM Microbe 2019. First, Susanna L. Harris talked about her bout with depression in graduate school, and her founding of PhD Balance to …
Shortly after Félix d€™Herelle discovered viruses that infect bacteria in 1917 (also found in 1915 by Twort), he recognized their therapeutic potential for treating infections. The discovery of penicillin in 1928 began the golden age of antibiotics, which pushed aside progress in treating infections with bacteriophages. With the advent of widespread antimicrobial resistance, development of …
