Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, Ed Fussell, Andrea Leal, and Amy Sargent On episode #111 of the podcast This Week in Virology, the TWiV crew meets with members of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District at Florida Gulf Coast University to discuss dengue in Florida and how to control it. ...

During the replication of retroviruses, a double-stranded DNA copy of the viral RNA genome is synthesized by reverse transcription and integrated into the genomes of the infected cell. When retroviral DNA is integrated into the DNA of germ line cells, it is passed on to future generations in Mendelian fashion ...

Influenza researcher Peter Palese visited yesterday and spoke about "Pandemic influenza: Past and Future". A key part of his talk was a review of his efforts to produce a universal influenza vaccine which protects against all strains. He used the following graph to make the point that when influenza pandemic ...

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit On episode #110 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, Rich, and Dickson discuss bacteria that can utilize arsenic in place of phosphorus, the passing of Frank Fenner, polio outbreak in The Congo, solving criminal cases of HIV transmission, and ...

A salt-loving (halophilic) bacterium which can grow in medium containing arsenic instead of phosphorus has been selected from the microbial community of Mono Lake in California. Arsenic (As) is a chemical analog of phosphorus and is usually toxic because it can enter metabolic pathways in the place of phosphorus. It appears to ...