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Tag: natural selection

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TWiEVO 76: One-step symbiosis

  • March 22, 2022
  • Tagged as: E. coli, evolution, mutualism, natural selection, reduced genome, stinkbug, symbiont

Nels and Vincent describe how a single amino acid change can allow E. coli to replace the essential gut symbiont of the stinkbug Plautia stali.

1 Reply
  • Episode
  • This Week in Evolution

TWiEVO 74: On racism, not race with Joe Graves

  • February 3, 2022
  • Tagged as: evolution, natural selection, race, racism

Joe Graves joins Nels and Vincent to discuss his career in evolutionary biology and his recent book that answers questions about race and racism.

3 Replies
  • Episode

TWiEVO 73: With a little help from your hosts

  • December 28, 2021
  • Tagged as: coronavirus, COVID-19, evolution, fitness, natural selection, Omicron, pandemic, RNA insertion, SARS-CoV-2

Nels and Vincent review three aspects of SARS-CoV-2: phylogenetics of Omicron, a two-step fitness selection for SARS-CoV-2 variants, and putative RNA insertions from host genomes.

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  • Episode

TWiEVO 72: Echoes of evolution both shallow and deep

  • October 26, 2021
  • Tagged as: Archaea, bacteria, coronavirus, COVID-19, epidemic, evolution, lipid divide, membrane, natural selection, pandemic, positive selection

Nels and Vincent discuss evolutionary evidence for an epidemic of coronavirus infection over 20,000 years ago in East Asia, and reconstruction of the membrane differences between bacteria and Archaea reveals unexpected differences in permeability.

2 Replies
  • Episode

TWiEVO 71: Faster than a speeding coronavirus

  • September 26, 2021
  • Tagged as: alpha variant, coronavirus, COVID-19, delta variant, evolution, mutation rate, natural selection, pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, viral fitness

Nels and Vincent explain a method to calculate the mutation rate of SARS-CoV-2, and the role of a single amino acid change in spike in enhancing fitness of the delta variant and enabling it to out-compete the alpha variant.

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  • Episode

TWiEVO 70: On Life’s Edge with Carl Zimmer

  • August 3, 2021
  • Tagged as: Carl Zimmer, COVID-19, evolution, natural selection, pandemic, science communication, virus

Carl Zimmer joins Nels to talk about science writing, science communication, viruses, and his new book, On Life’s Edge.

1 Reply
  • Episode

TWiEVO 68: Stepping through time with SARS-CoV-2

  • May 29, 2021
  • Tagged as: COVID-19, evolution, mutation order approach, natural selection, pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, time to most recent common ancestor, tMRCA, viral, virology, virus

Nels and Vincent explain a new method for calculating the most recent common ancestor of SARS-CoV-2, which concludes that the ancestral virus was circulating in October/November 2019, before its first detection in China.

2 Replies
  • Episode

TWiVEO 67: Corona chameleon

  • April 22, 2021
  • Tagged as: B.1.1.7, coronavirus, COVID-19, mutation, natural selection, pandemic, RNA recombination, variants of concern

Nels and Vincent review evidence for recombinant SARS-CoV-2 genomes arising in the B.1.1.7 lineage within the United Kingdom.

2 Replies
  • Episode

TWiEVO 66: SARS-2-mouse

  • March 25, 2021
  • Tagged as: B1.351, coronavirus, COVID-19, evolution, mouse, natural selection, P.1, pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, variants of concern, virus host range

Nels and Vincent review a preprint demonstrating that changes in the genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 variants B1.351 and P.1 allow the viruses to reproduce in mouse cells in culture and in laboratory mice.

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TWiEVO 65: Variants in the mist

  • February 25, 2021
  • Tagged as: adaptive changes, COVID-19, evolution, evolutionary sweep, natural selection, positive selection, spillover, variant of concern, zoonosis

Nels and Vincent review evidence that a single amino acid change in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein has driven adaptation to humans, followed by an update on the status of variants of concern.

1 Reply
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