Virus populations do not consist of a single member with a defined nucleic acid sequence, but are dynamic distributions of nonidentical but related members called a quasispecies (illustrated at left). While next-generation sequencing methods have the capability of describing a quasispecies, the errors associated with this technology have limited progress in our understanding of the genetic …
On episode #332 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent visits Vanderbilt University and meets up with Seth, Jim, and Mark to talk about their work on a virus of Wolbachia, anti-viral antibodies, and coronaviruses. You can find TWiV #332 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
A leukemia-like cancer is killing soft-shell clams along the east coast of North America. The cancer is transmitted between animals in the ocean, and appears to have originated in a single clam as recently as 40 years ago. Hemic neoplasm is a disease of marine bivalves that is characterized by proliferation of morphologically and functionally aberrant hemocytes, the …
On episode #331 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiV team discusses the possible association of the respiratory pathogen enterovirus D68 with neurological disease. You can find TWiV #331 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
The first immortal human cell line ever produced, HeLa, originated from a cervical adenocarcinoma taken from Henrietta Lacks. The cell line grew so well that it was used in many laboratories and soon was found to contaminate other cell lines. Now HeLa RNA has made its way into human sequence databases. Although the cause of …
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.
