Endosymbionts, organisms that may live inside of another cell, can be infected with viruses. An example is Wolbachia, which lives inside the cells of insects and nematodes, and is infected with Wolbachia phage WO. It’s always been a puzzle how viruses of endosymbionts pass through the host cell to infect their host. A study of …
I spoke with Eva Harris of the University of California, Berkeley, on the state of Zika virus in Nicaragua.
A novel coronavirus isolated from bats in China is unusual because the genome contains a gene from a virus in a completely different family, the Reoviridae (link to paper). The finding suggests that recombination occurred between a (+) strand RNA virus and a virus with a segmented, double-stranded RNA genome. The unusual recombinant virus was identified …
Oncogenes of DNA tumor viruses encode proteins that cause cells to divide incessantly, eventually leading to formation of a tumor. These oncoproteins have now been found to antagonize the innate immune response of the cell (link to paper). Most cells encountered by viruses are not dividing, and hence do not efficiently support viral DNA synthesis. The …
A new function for oncoproteins of DNA tumor viruses Read More »
Viruses are tidily categorized into three groups according to the hosts they infect – bacteriophages, eukaryotic viruses, and archaeal viruses. Viruses do not infect hosts in another domain of life, and therefore lateral gene transfer is limited (giant DNA viruses might be exceptions). Now there is evidence for lateral gene transfer between eukaryotes and bacteriophages. Proof …
Yoshinori Ohsumi has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on autophagy, a process of eukaryotic cells for degrading and recycling cellular components. Because of his research, we now understand the importance of autophagy in health and human disease. It is another example of the serendipity of science and …
A Nobel for autophagy, and the importance of fundamental research Read More »
