This Week in Virology » genome

TWiV 139: Honey, I shrunk the virus

Vincent Racaniello — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:16:14 +0000

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Dickson Despommier

Vincent, Alan, and Dickson discuss the reduction in genome size of Mimivirus upon passage in amoeba, and analysis of the microbiome of honeybees.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #139 (96 MB .mp3, 80 minutes).

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Links for this episode:

Mimivirus genome reduction after amoebal culture (PNAS)
Carbohydrate-Active enZYmes database
Analysis of the honey bee microbiome (PLoS One)
The colony-collapse blues (TWiV 104)
Blessed are the beekeepers (Wall Street Journal)
TWiV on Facebook
Letters read on TWiV 139

Weekly Science Picks

Alan – Life Before the Dinosaurs by ABC
Dickson – Inside Jokes by Matthew M. Hurley
Vincent – The Tree of Life by Jonathan Eisen

Listener Pick of the Week

Lance – A History of the World since 9/11 by Dominic Streatfeild

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

TWiV 106: Making viral DNA II

Vincent Racaniello — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 21:18:34 +0000

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Dickson, and Rich continue Virology 101 with a second installment of their discussion of how viruses with DNA genomes replicate their genetic information.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #106 (69 MB .mp3, 95 minutes)

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email, or listen on your mobile device with Stitcher Radio.

Links for this episode:

Figures for this episode (pdf)
Letters read on TWiV 106
Video of this episode – download .mov or .wmv or view below

Weekly Science Picks

Rich – Google Health
Dickson – The Neandertal genome
Vincent – Lab techniques videos (thanks, Erik!)

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.

TWiV 96: Making viral DNA

Vincent Racaniello — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:36:43 +0000

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Dickson, and Rich continue Virology 101 with a discussion of how viruses with DNA genomes replicate their genetic information.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #96 (65 MB .mp3, 90 minutes)

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email, or listen on your mobile device with Stitcher Radio.

Links for this episode:

Figures for this episode (pdf)
RNA silencing as a plant immune system (Trends in Genetics)
Photos of transgenic petunia (PLoS Biology)
Letters read on TWiV 96
Video of this episode – download .mov or .wmv or view below

Get the Flash Player to see this video.

Weekly Science Picks

Rich – Breast milk sugars give infants a protective coat (NY Times and PNAS article)
Vincent – The Great American University by Jonathan R. Cole

TWiV 72: Bucket of bolts

Vincent Racaniello — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:24:29 +0000

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

This week the TWiV team explains CRISPR/Cas, the immune system of bacteria and archaea, how novel viruses are discovered by deep sequencing of small RNAs, and the relationship between dry weather and outbreaks of West Nile virus infection.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

Win a free Drobo S! Contest rules here.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #72 (62 MB .mp3, 85 minutes)

Subscribe to TWiV (free) in iTunes , at the Zune Marketplace, by the RSS feed, or by email.

Links for this episode:

Review on the CRISPR/cas system of bacteria and archaea
Virus discovery by sequencing small virus-derived RNAs (paper one and two)
Dry weather induces outbreaks of West Nile virus infection (paper and comment form)
Vaccine needle size matters
Participate in the Personal Genome Project

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson Scientist as Chef by Dickson Despommier (pdf)
Alan Networked Organisms and Habitats (NOAH) iPhone app
Rich Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
Vincent The Dish

TWiV 60: Making viral RNA

Vincent Racaniello — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:24:03 +0000

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dick continue Virology 101 with a discussion of how RNA viruses produce mRNA and replicate their genomes.

Sponsor: Try GotoMyPC free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomypc.com/podcast

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #60 (51 MB .mp3, 71 minutes)

Subscribe to TWiV in iTunes, by the RSS feed, or by email

Links for this episode:

Diagrams of viral RNA synthesis
Animations of influenza virus and HIV-1 replication
Episode transcript (pdf) – Thanks Norma!
Video for this episode – see below

Weekly Science Picks
Dick The Double Helix by James D. Watson
Vincent Worms and Germs Blog

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast. You can also send articles that you would like us to discuss to delicious and tag them with to:twivpodcast.

Below is a video of TWiV 60, which highlights the diagrams I referred to during the podcast.

Get the Flash Player to see this video.

Download TWiV 60 video. These videos are slightly larger (800 x 512) than the flash version shown above

186 MB .mov video file

584 MB .wmv video file

TWiV 49: Viral genomes

Vincent Racaniello — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:10:11 +0000

Hosts:Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier

Vincent and Dick continue Virology 101 with a discussion of the seven different types of viral genomes, and how to use the pathway to mRNA to understand viral replication.

Sponsor: Try GotoMyPC free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomypc.com/podcast

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #49 (45 MB .mp3, 62 minutes)

Links for this episode:

TWiV 49 transcript (pdf)
Dick talks about hookworm on Radio Lab
Dick’s video page at BigThink
The seven types of viral genome
Animation of HIV replication (thanks axiomatically atypical!)
Changes in transcript abundance relating to colony collapse disorder in honey bee (thanks Judi!)

Weekly Science Picks
Dick Discovery Channel: Planet Green
Vincent Influenza videos at BigThink: one, two, three, four, five, six

Subscribe to TWiV in iTunes, by the RSS feed, or by email