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 …
Vincent speaks with Sandy Weller about her career and her work on the mechanisms of synthesis, maturation, cleavage and packaging of viral DNA genomes.
Did you know that the evolution of ancient retroviruses, millions of years ago, can be traced by studying their genomes in the chromosomes of contemporary animals? Ted Diehl and Welkin Johnson join the TWiV team to tell us how they did it with mammals. All without a single wet experiment! They also join in the …
Back in 1974, before it was possible to determine the sequence of a viral genome, before we knew much about the origin of viruses and their ability to move genes from organism to organism, Lewis Thomas wrote the following incredibly prescient words in The Lives of a Cell: The viruses, instead of being single-minded agents of disease …
Episode #235 of the science show This Week in Virology was recorded before an audience at the 2nd Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology Symposium at the University of Alberta, where they spoke with Dave, Stan, and Lorne about their work on poxvirus vaccines and recombination, an enveloped picornavirus, antivirals against hepatitis B and C viruses, …
Viral genomes are unusual because they can be based on RNA or DNA, in contrast to all cellular life forms, which have DNA as their genetic information. An unusual new virus has been discovered that appears to have sequences from both an RNA and a DNA virus. The new virus was identified during a study …
