virology blog
About viruses and viral disease
Nels and Vincent discuss an analysis of the drivers of evolution of SARS-CoV-2 during chronic infections, indicating that a tradeoff exists between antibody evasion and fitness.
Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello
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Download TWiEVO 79 (59 MB .mp3, 98 min)
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Show notes at microbe.tv/twievo
Jessie, Allie and Tyler join Nels and Vincent to describe their work on deep mutational scanning of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain.
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Download TWiEVO 57 (50 MB .mp3, 84 min)
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Rich joins Nels and Vincent for a debriefing on the 4th Ringberg Symposium on Giant Virus Biology in Tegernsee, Germany.
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Download TWiEVO 49 (68 MB .mp3, 113 min)
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When viruses are introduced into a new population, selection pressures can lead to evolution of both pathogen and host. The pathogen must adapt to a new host, while the latter can become resistant to infection, leading to an arms race. An archetypal example of such host-pathogen evolution is illustrated by the attempt to control rabbit populations in Australia by the release of a pathogenic virus. Recent work illuminates the changes that occurred as the rabbits became resistant to infection.
[Read more…] about Rabbits and viruses: An iconic example of natural selection