TWiV 528: Our annual recapsidation

January 6, 2019

Starring virusIn the first episode for 2019, the TWiV team reviews the amazing virology stories of the past year.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson DespommierAlan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Download TWiV 528 (77 MB .mp3, 128 min)
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Links for this episode

Weekly Science Picks 1:39:10

Alan – Pandemic Trail game
RichOn a Bat’s Wing and a Prayer
Dickson – Decoding Watson
KathyPhenotypic variation in outbred and inbred mice
Vincent – Trump County Confronts the Administration Amid Rash of Child Cancers

Listener Pick

AnnePeter Hotez interview
Islam – Letter from Crick to Watson (pdf)

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

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4 comments on “TWiV 528: Our annual recapsidation

  1. Johnye Ballenger Jan 6, 2019

    Prof. V

    Happy New Year and Belated Birthday to us!!!!!

    Johnye Ballenger

    PS I check rhododendron leaves as well for a qualitative temp reading. Currently, -3 C in Boston.

  2. Johnye Ballenger Jan 7, 2019

    Wow, I complete the TWiV listener survey asking for a review/retrospective/overview of RNA, and what do I find?

    You folks are psychic too! Who could ask for anything more? Well, maybe an immortalized TWiV podcast cell line.

    Thank you.

    Johnye

  3. Johnye Ballenger Jan 7, 2019

    Vincent, You are Route 66 and a sexagenarian! Enjoy.

    Johnye, also a Jan 2 birth person.

    Sorry about all the comments tonight.
    Realized it was the evolutionary hx of RNA viruses, not RNAs. Oh well.

  4. Anthony Olszewski Jan 7, 2019

    Abstract
    Little is known about the origin and long-term evolutionary mode of retroviruses. Retroviruses can integrate into their hosts’ genomes, providing a molecular fossil record for studying their deep history. Here we report the discovery of an endogenous foamy virus-like element, which we designate ‘coelacanth endogenous foamy-like virus’ (CoeEFV), within the genome of the coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae). Phylogenetic analyses place CoeEFV basal to all known foamy viruses, strongly suggesting an ancient ocean origin of this major retroviral lineage, which had previously been known to infect only land mammals. The discovery of CoeEFV reveals the presence of foamy-like viruses in species outside the Mammalia. We show that foamy-like viruses have likely codiverged with their vertebrate hosts for more than 407 million years and underwent an evolutionary transition from water to land with their vertebrate hosts. These findings suggest an ancient marine origin of retroviruses and have important implications in understanding foamy virus biology.
    https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1002790