ribosome

The TWiM team reveals how ribosome modification resuscitates bacterial persister cells, and explain how a phage tail fiber protein exploits rotation of flagella to move towards the cell membrane.

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Links for this episode:

• Ribosome modification resuscitates persister cells (Environ Micro)
• Flagellotrophic phage targets host with tail fiber (Mol Micro)
• Hydrodynamics of phage migration along flagella (Phys Rev Fluids)

 

The Scholars of the Podcast reveal ribosomal proteins encoded in viral genomes, and a protein cell receptor for bat influenza viruses.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

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Links for this episode

• European Congress of Virology 2019
• ASM Clinical Virology Symposium
• Intel ISEF judges needed
• Roald Dahl endorses measles vaccine
• Viruses encode ribosomal proteins (Nat Commun)
• Bat influenza virus receptor (Nature)
• Going to bat for flu research (TWiV 173)
• Letters read on TWiV 537
• Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks

Brianne - Yes, I'm a Scientist on Twitter. Stop Judging Me.
Alan- Impact of vaccines, graphed in heat maps
Dickson- Treehoppers
Kathy- World watershed maps
Rich-  Gene Machine by Venki Ramakrishnan
Vincent - House hearing on measles outbreak (ASM comment)

Listener Pick

Jordan- Facebook may remove anti-vaccine recommendations

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

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

The TWiVumvirate discuss the giant Tupanvirus, with the longest tail in the known virosphere, and dampened STING dependent interferon activation in bats.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

Become a patron of TWiV!

Links for this episode

• ASM Microbe 2018
• Tailed giant Tupanvirus (Nat Commun)
• Soda Lakes (Wikipedia)
• Dampened STING in bats (Cell Host Microbe)
• Image credit
• Letters read on TWiV 484

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

Rich Condit joins Nels and Vincent to explain how a vaccinia virus protein customizes ribosomes to favor the translation of viral mRNAs with a stretch of A residues in the 5'-untranslated region.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

 

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• Rich Condit with Harry Noller (scroll down)
• Trans-Kingdom mimicry? (Nature)
• More on RACK1 (Nat Struct Mol Biol)
• Image credit
• Letters read on TWiEVO 21

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twie.

Science Picks

Rich - Sniffing out significant “Pee values”
Nels - Cuttlefish mimicking a hermit crab (evolutionary context)
Vincent - Our first bioRxiv submission!

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan and Rich explain how to make a functional ribosome with tethered subunits, and review the results of a phase III VSV-vectored Ebolavirus vaccine trial in Guinea.

 

Links for this episode

• Social media specialist position at ASM
• WHO dismisses Catholic church on vaccine safety
• U of T Dean resigns over anti-vaccine course (Tor Star)
• Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)
• Countering anti-vaccination attitudes (PNAS)
• Designer ribosome (Nature)
• rVSV-EBOV preliminary report (NEJM)
• rVSV-EBOV phase III interim report (pdf, Lancet)
• World on verge of Ebolavirus vaccine (WHO)
• Ebolavirus vaccine in Africa (virology blog)
• Letters read on TWiV 349 11:55

This episode is sponsored by ASM GAP

Weekly Science Picks

Alan - Above and Beyond
Rich - DSCOVR (Dark moon side crossing Earth)
Vincent - Stuxnet virus (Wired, YouTube)

Listener Pick of the Week

Konrad - Stated Clearly

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

The TWiM team reviews the microbiological safety of herbs in the United Kingdom, and how a peptide from the milkweek bug binds the ribosome and inhibits bacterial protein synthesis.

 

Links for this episode:

 

• Microbes in whole-leaf herbs (J Appl Micro)

• Antimicrobial peptide blocks ribosome (Nat Struct Mol Biol)

• Bacterial protein synthesis (Micro Mol Biol Rev)

• Antimicrobial peptides (Nature)

• The battle for tryptophan (Front Cell Infect Micro)

• Image credit

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Vincent, Rich and Kathy discuss mechanisms of protein synthesis and regulation in virus-infected cells.

Links for this episode:

• Slides for this episode (pdf)
• T7 ribosomal binding sites (CSH Symp Quant Biol)
• Tinkering with translation (CSH Persp)
• Translation at nexus of infection and immunity (Cell Host Microbe)
• Viral subversion of protein synthesis machinery (Nat Rev Micr)

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy - Vaccine-preventable outbreaks
Rich -  To Catch a Virus by John Booss and Marilyn J. August
Vincent - This is Water by David Foster Wallace

Listener Pick of the Week

Jon - Confessions of a converted lecturer by Eric Mazur
Peter - FameLab

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

On episode #97 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent visited Peter Sarnow and Bert Semler during a trip to California, and spoke with them about their work on internal ribosome entry, and the requirement for a cellular microRNA for hepatitis C virus replication.

The largest TWiV panel ever assembled takes on XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome, 2009 chemistry Nobel prizes for ribosome structure, finding new poxvirus vaccine candidates, a brouhaha over leaked Canadian data on flu susceptibility, and transmission of H1N1 influenza to a pet ferret.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dick Despommier, Alan Dove, Jason Rodriguez, and Rich Condit

Links for this episode:

• XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome
• XMRV not found in German prostate cancer
• 2009 Chemistry Nobel Prize for ribosome structure
• New poxvirus vaccines (e! Science and Virology articles - thanks Jim!)
• Seasonal flu shots and susceptibility to 2009 H1N1 (one, two, and three)
• Pet ferret gets H1N1 influenza from owner

Weekly Science Picks

Dick Nikon photomicroscopy contest winners at SciAm (Dick's article on vertical farming)
Alan Make:
Rich BBC's Planet Earth (DVD at Amazon)
Jason The Collider, the Particle and a Theory About Fate
Vincent An Epidemic of Fear and Misinformants at Wired Magazine

Dr. Thomas Steitz, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, headed the team that mapped the ribosome's structure.