Virology
TWiV #356: Got viruses?
By Vincent Racaniello
On episode #356 of the science show This Week in Virology, Stephanie joins the super professors to discuss the gut virome of children with serious malnutrition, caterpillar genes acquired from parasitic wasps, and the effect of adding chemokines to a simian immunodeficiency virus DNA vaccine. You can find TWiV #356 at ...
Wasps do a gain-of-function experiment in caterpillars
By Vincent Racaniello
Parasitic wasps (in the order Hymenoptera) inject their eggs into lepidopteran hosts, where the eggs go through their developmental stages. Along with the eggs, the wasps also deliver viruses carrying genes encoding proteins that inhibit caterpillar immune defenses. Some of these genes are permanently transferred to the lepidopteran host where they have assumed ...
TWiV 355: Baby’s first virome
By Vincent Racaniello
On episode #355 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiV team considers the effect of a Leishmaniavirus on the efficacy of drug treatment, and the human fecal virome and microbiome in twins during early infancy. You can find TWiV #355 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
A virus in a parasite in a human
By Vincent Racaniello
The protozoan parasite Leishmania, transmitted to humans by the bite of a sandfly, may cause disfiguring skin lesions. A virus within the parasite appears to increase the risk of treatment failure with anti-leishmania drugs. A double-stranded RNA virus was found over 20 years ago to infect different species of Leishmania, with up ...
TWiV 354: The cat in the HAART
By Vincent Racaniello
On episode #354 of the science show This Week in Virology, the esteemed doctors of TWiV review a new giant virus recovered from the Siberian permafrost, why influenza virus gain of function experiments are valuable, and feline immunodeficiency virus. You can find TWiV #354 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
