TWiV 540: Wascally wiruses

March 24, 2019
rabbits around a water hole

The TWiVstars reveal the diversity of herpes simplex virus type 2 in a neonatal population, and parallel adaptation of rabbits in three countries to myxoma virus.

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

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Download TWiV 540 (66 MB .mp3, 109 min)
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Links for this episode

Weekly Science Picks 1:35:33

AlanThe Quarters
RichBrian May – New Horizons (Ultima Thule Mix) [Official Music Video]
Dickson How rats became an inescapable part of city living
Kathy – Principal Component Analysis (short  longer) and Educational Material about Influenza Viruses
Vincent – Why “chickenpox parties” are a terrible idea—in case it’s not obvious

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

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

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2 comments on “TWiV 540: Wascally wiruses

  1. Angela Apr 6, 2019

    Thanks for the great show!
    Couldn’t stop laughing about your comments: It’s too GC rich!
    The lab I worked in as a graduate student, We used to say this all the time when our PCRs of HSV-1 genes failed. Those failures helped me learn how to troubleshoot PCR reactions. At my current job, when I mention GC rich sequences in primers used for seuencing mitochondrial genome regions, people look at me like I’m crazy.
    Hearing that comment brought back some great
    memories.
    PS I think the authors, when researching why the plaques were smaller forgot an area to look at: the packing of the viral genome into capsids. Perhaps capsids formation and/or packaging of the viral genome was not 100% efficient. Hence the smaller plaques.