The obligate intracellular bacteria Wolbachia (pictured), which infects 40% of arthropods, can manipulate its host to ensure its maintenance in the population. An example is cytoplasmic incompatibility, which occurs when infected males mate with uninfected females, and causes embryonic lethality (mating with an infected female produces viable offspring). Two Wolbachia genes ...

The TWiX cabal discuss sexual transmission of Zika virus in mice, and how immune escape enables herpes simplex virus escape from latency. You can find TWiV #430 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 430 (63 MB .mp3, 104 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV!

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are rare, but always fatal, neurodegenerative disorders of humans and other mammals. They are characterized by long incubation periods, spongiform changes in the brain associated with loss of neurons, and the absence of host responses. TSEs are caused by infectious proteins called prions. Insight into how prions cause TSEs ...

https://youtu.be/M8w-bNqJ5pY Vincent meets with members of team ZEST at the University of Wisconsin Madison to discuss their macaque model for Zika virus pathogenesis. You can find TWiV #429 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen/watch right here. [powerpress url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV429.mp3"] Click arrow to play Download TWiV 429 (48 MB .mp3, 78 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV!

A study of sexual transmission of Zika virus among mice (link to paper) demonstrates beautifully that viral nucleic acid detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is not the same as infectious virus. Male mice were infected with Zika virus and then mated with female mice. Efficient sexual transmission of the virus from males ...