Vincent travels to the fifth Giant Virus Meeting in Tegernsee, Germany and speaks with Sheree Yau and Victoria Queiroz about their research on picoeukaryotes (tiny algal cells) and their viruses, pithoviruses, and an educational kit for virology classes.
The TWiVeroos deliver the weekly Zika Report, then talk about a cryoEM structure of a plant virus that reveals how the RNA genome is packaged in the capsid, and MIMIVIRE, a CRISPR-like defense system in giant eukaryotic viruses.
Vincent, Alan, and Dickson discuss the reduction in genome size of Mimivirus upon passage in amoeba, and analysis of the microbiome of honeybees.