If you have been following our discussion of quasispecies here on virology blog, you might be wondering exactly how many possible variants there are for a viral genome. The answer is quite simple: for a genome N nucleotides in length, there are 4N possible variants, because there are 4 different nucleotides. This is a huge …
In episode #22 of This Week in Virology, Vincent and Chris Upton converse about hepatitis B in India, AIDS gene therapy with a ribozyme, antibodies that neutralize many influenza virus strains, killing tumors with vaccinia virus, myxoma virus of rabbits, and the Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center. Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to …
The innate response to virus infection is a marvel: when confronted with an invading microbe, it responds rapidly by producing interferons and other cytokines which establish an antiviral state. Its effectiveness is underscored by the fact that every viral genome must encode countermeasures that modulate its activity. A recent paper in PNAS adds another mechanism …
Vincent and Jeremy recorded TWiV #16 in Saanen, Switzerland, at the 19th Challenge in Virology. They review the meeting, and discuss implications of a new HIV-1 sequence from 1960 for the origin of AIDS. Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #16
On This Week in Virology episode 14, Vincent and Alan discuss a personal experience with viral upper respiratory tract infection (common cold), determinants of transmission of H5N1 influenza virus, the death of an HIV denialist, and the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to …
TWiV #14: Common cold, H5N1 transmission, HIV denial, Ebola Read More »
This Week in Virology #11 has been posted at www.microbe.tv/twiv. [powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV011.mp3″] Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #11 In this episode, Vincent, Alan, and guest Jeremy Luban discuss why certain AIDS patients, called ‘elite controllers’ or ‘long-term non-progressors’, do not develop disease, why mosquitoes infected with Sindbis virus remain …
TWiV #11 – Elite controllers, mosquitoes, and winter vomiting Read More »
