On episode #337 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent meets up with Michael and Steve to discuss their finding of a transmissible tumor in soft-shell clams associated with a retrovirus-like element in the clam genome. You can find TWiV #337 at www.microbe.tv/twiv.
A leukemia-like cancer is killing soft-shell clams along the east coast of North America. The cancer is transmitted between animals in the ocean, and appears to have originated in a single clam as recently as 40 years ago. Hemic neoplasm is a disease of marine bivalves that is characterized by proliferation of morphologically and functionally aberrant hemocytes, the …
