Virome
sa smith | October 16, 2012Its like 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon', except with virophages! And in my case, it seems to be closer to two or three degrees.
Its happened again.
Provirophages and transpovirons as the diverse mobilome of giant viruses
Edited by James L. Van Etten, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Dr. Van Etten is one of my former professors. One of the nicest, most interesting fellows youll ever meet!
He is also one of the discoverers of one of the first giant viruses, PBCV-1 .
The story told in this paper, though, is 'different' (gross understatement).
After investigating the contact lens…
sa smith | September 26, 2012Its like, instead of 'Put a bird on it!', scientists are like 'Put a virus on it!'
Got cancer? Put a virus on it! In constant pain? Put a virus on it! Addicted to cigarettes? Put a virus on it! Genetic disease? Put a virus on it!
Got acne? Put a virus on it!
Propionibacterium acnes Bacteriophages Display Limited Genetic Diversity and Broad Killing Activity against Bacterial Skin Isolates
YAY!!!
Acne, though not life-threatening, sucks.
If you dont have acne, consider yourself lucky. Some people can get it relatively under control with a combination of over the counter meds and…
sa smith | April 26, 2012Know what sounds like fun? Testing almost 5,000 bats and over 4,000 rodents, from all over the world, for a cadre of viral infections ;)
Im not kidding!Bats host major mammalian paramyxoviruses
Think about this: Where did, say, measles, come from? How were humans originally infected? Where were they infected? Just because we have a vaccine for the measles that crossed over into humans that works really well-- what if a different version, not susceptible to our vaccine, crosses over again? Can it happen again?
Without understanding a viruses past, you cannot adequately prepare for the…
sa smith | April 19, 2012Viruses are everywhere.
Theyre even in other viruses.
:-|
A couple of scientists at Portland States 'Center for Life in Extreme Environments' just found a virus in the sediment of Boiling Springs Lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park ('boiling'? 'volcanic'? sounds cozy!). It is a single-strand, circular DNA virus.
Well, okee dokie! Every new virus we find is a good thing-- helps us find new genes that evolution has already invented for us, helps us understand the evolution of viruses, its fun!
But what makes this guy so neat is that it is a DNA virus... with the capsid (structural core,…
sa smith | October 6, 2011I dont know why so many people bag on Pittsburgh.
Maybe people who grew up In The Big City dont like it, but to a country bumpkin like me, it is a magical city full of hot boys and glitter. *shrug*
Its also home to some of the best virology work in the country. Example:Raw Sewage Harbors Diverse Viral Populations
One major point I want to get across to the general public through this blog is "Viruses are not always 'bad guys'."
Yes, of course, some viruses make us sick. And those are the ones we notice, obviously.
Long-time readers of ERV know that we can domesticate these 'bad guys'. We…
sa smith | October 4, 2010If theres one question I get over and over and over and over on ERV, its this one:What kind of viruses are in bat poop??
Until yesterday, I had no idea what to tell the millions of people sending me that Q. Thank GAWD daedalus2u sent me a link to this awesome paper!Bat Guano Virome: Predominance of Dietary Viruses from Insects and Plants plus Novel Mammalian Viruses
While Im being silly about this, the viruses that infect bats are a really big deal. Im sure youve heard of rabies (if you find a bat in your house and it bites/scratches you, you need to go see a physician ASAP). But bats are…