The sequence of all known rhinovirus genomes reported in Science last week is an important advance for the field. Analyses of the sequences have revealed new relationships among the viruses, evidence for recombination, a new viral species, and conserved regions of the genome. These findings will be extremely valuable for those ...

On This Week in Virology episode 20, Vincent, Dick, and Alan are joined by hepatitis C virus expert Matt Evans. They converse about TED, the Wakefield autism controversy, 99 rhinovirus sequences, Marburg in the USA, and hepatitis C virus. Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV ...

While preparing a figure for a review article on innate sensing of RNA, I realized that the image was taking on facial features. I thought the readers of virology blog might be amused by the image that I created. Click on the thumbnail at left for a larger view. Now ...

An acute viral infection is characterized by rapid onset of disease, a relatively brief period of symptoms, and resolution within days. It is usually accompanied by early production of infectious virions and elimination of infection by the host immune system. Acute viral infections are typically observed with pathogens such as ...

The development of recombinant DNA methods by Cohen and Boyer in 1973, together with the discovery of reverse transcriptase by Temin and Baltimore in 1970, made it possible to introduce a mutation at any location in a viral genome. The essential reagent is an infectious DNA clone, a double-stranded DNA ...