Nels and Vincent review the identification of a novel virus associated with the pathogen Plasmodium knowlsei and which is part part of a diverse and unclassified viral taxon. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Click arrow…
Nels and Vincent discuss how the rewetting of seasonally dried soils, a critical event in Mediterranean grasslands that reactivates dormant soil microorganisms, leading to pulses of carbon and nitrogen mineralization, and is accompanied by a bloom of viral diversity, followed by extensive viral community turnover.
Louise Moncla joins Nels and Vincent to review her use of genomics to understand emergence, evolution, and transmission of respiratory viruses including influenza virus H5N1, mumps virus, and SARS-CoV-2.
TWiEVO 75: Even the BANAL coronaviruses are interesting
- February 24, 2022
- Tagged as: coronavirus, Laos, pandemic, Rhinolophus bat, SARS-CoV-2, spillover, virology, virus, viruses, zoonosis
Nels and Vincent review isolation of SARS-CoV-2-like viruses from bats in Laos that can replicate in human cells.
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.
TWiEVO 69: Swimming in SARS-CoV-2 sequences
- June 30, 2021
- Tagged as: coronavirus, COVID-19, evolution, genome sequence, Rhinolophus bats, SARS-CoV-2, Sequence Read Archive, viral, virology, virus, viruses, zoonosis
Nels and Vincent discuss the identification of novel bat coronaviruses that shed light on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, dating the first cases of COVID-19 to mid-November 2019, and recovery of deleted genome sequences from early in the Wuhan outbreak.
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.
TWiEVO 64: Seeing the lineages for the variants
- January 22, 2021
- Tagged as: antibody, coronavirus, COVID-19, evolution, immune response, pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, transmission, virus, viruses
Nels and Vincent consider evolution of antibody immunity to SARS-CoV-2, and update the situation on novel virus variants of concern with potentially altered fitness and reactivity with antibodies.
Nels and Vincent wrap up 2020 with a discussion of novel variants of SARS-CoV-2 that have emerged in the United Kingdom and South Africa, how to interpret the rapidly emerging genome sequence data and what to look for in the coming weeks as these variants spread across the globe.
Nels and Vincent discuss an opinion piece on 12 evolutionary insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic is shaping human nature, and prolonged SARS-CoV-2 reproduction in an immunosuppressed patient.
