When viruses cross species, serial transmission may lead to the selection for mutations that confer improved replication or transmission in the new host. Identifying such mutations in human viruses is extremely difficult: we cannot conduct the appropriate experiments in humans, and often do not have viral isolates spanning the time from spillover through ...

https://youtu.be/HqCByiOE4X8 From the EIDA2Z conference at Boston University, Vincent, Alan and Paul meet up with Ralph Baric, Felix Drexler, Marion Koopmans, and Stacey Schultz-Cherry to talk about discovering, understanding, protecting, and collaborating on emerging infectious diseases. You can find TWiV #413 at microbe.tv/twiv, or watch or listen here. [powerpress url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV413.mp3"] Click ...

 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 ...

The TWiVome reveal the first eukaryotic genes found in a bacteriophage of Wolbachia, and how DNA tumor virus oncogenes antagonize sensing of cytoplasmic DNA by the cell. You can find TWiV #412 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below. [powerpress url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/twiv/TWiV412.mp3"] Click arrow to play Download TWiV 412 (73 MB .mp3, 121 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email Become ...

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 ...