Coronaviruses 101: Focus on Molecular Virology

[Dr_SLO]

For the uber nerds in the forum, UC Berkeley professor and IGI Investigator Britt Glaunsinger has put together a fabulous lecture that explains the evolution, genetics, and virulence of coronaviruses. It's very technical here and there, plus, it does require same basic understanding of cell biology in places but it's only an hour long. When else are you going to have the opportunity to learn about coronaviruses :laughing

Coronaviruses 101: Focus on Molecular Virology

 

[wannabe]

Thanks for the link to the lecture. It was really interesting. :thumbup

 

[Dr_SLO]

Thanks for the link to the lecture. It was really interesting. :thumbup

Good to hear :thumbup

 

[wannabe]

Good to hear :thumbup

It's kinda funny how what you are exposed to when you are younger can have a huge impact on what you end up doing for the rest of your life. I grew up in the Reagan era when all the money was going to the defense contractors. So, I ended up following the money and became an engineer. After watching this lecture, I'm convinced that if I were in high school right now, I would probably decide to study molecular biology.

 

[Dr_SLO]

It's kinda funny how what you are exposed to when you are younger can have a huge impact on what you end up doing for the rest of your life. I grew up in the Reagan era when all the money was going to the defense contractors. So, I ended up following the money and became an engineer. After watching this lecture, I'm convinced that if I were in high school right now, I would probably decide to study molecular biology.

Molecular virology is fascinating but it's just a tool for the bigger picture. If you've not read it already Spill Over by David Quammen is a fantastic read about the interactions of infectious diseases between different animal species.

 

[DucatiHoney]

I'll need to listen to this. Viruses are fascinating. Yes, the death and destruction of the economy is a really unfortunate side effect, but viruses are a part of this world. If one just looks at them for what they are, they're beautiful and play an important role in nature's balance. It's almost kind of cool to feel the effect they have on your body as they're wreaking their havoc! I'm no spring chicken, and lung stuff has always been my downfall when it comes to getting sick, so I'm not terribly excited about gettin' this one. My mother is a working RN, father retired FNP, Uncle retired occupational health nurse, sister finishing nursing program, other sister does web content for NYU health something or other....I can eat a plate of spaghetti and watch a cyst being removed given what my family used to discuss at the dinner table!

 

[wannabe]

I'll need to listen to this. Viruses are fascinating. Yes, the death and destruction of the economy is a really unfortunate side effect, but viruses are a part of this world. If one just looks at them for what they are, they're beautiful and play an important role in nature's balance. It's almost kind of cool to feel the effect they have on your body as they're wreaking their havoc! I'm no spring chicken, and lung stuff has always been my downfall when it comes to getting sick, so I'm not terribly excited about gettin' this one. My mother is a working RN, father retired FNP, Uncle retired occupational health nurse, sister finishing nursing program, other sister does web content for NYU health something or other....I can eat a plate of spaghetti and watch a cyst being removed given what my family used to discuss at the dinner table!

Super off topic:

I love watching Dr. Pimple Popper while having dinner! :teeth

I raced on my college cycling team. There was a girl on the team who LOVED popping zits and digging out ingrown hairs on other people with her finger nails. Since we all shaved our legs, there were a lot of ingrown hairs for her to dig out. She had crazy hearing too. If she was within a hundred feet of someone who just mentioned the words 'zit' or 'ingrow on hair,' she would come running. :teeth

It’s funny how the oddest people are the ones you seem to remember the most fondly.

 

[wannabe]

Molecular virology is fascinating but it's just a tool for the bigger picture. If you've not read it already Spill Over by David Quammen is a fantastic read about the interactions of infectious diseases between different animal species.

Ooh, thanks for the recommendation! :thumbup

 

[Snaggy]

Molecular virology is fascinating but it's just a tool for the bigger picture. If you've not read it already Spill Over by David Quammen is a fantastic read about the interactions of infectious diseases between different animal species.

Great book! Audible has it too.

And WTF with bats?

 

[DucatiHoney]

<snip>

And WTF with bats?

I know, right? Such cool, little guys, but man, they are noooooo bueno when it comes to disease. I guess rats have the same rep. They're actually lovely, intelligent creatures as well.

 

[Dr_SLO]

I'll need to listen to this. Viruses are fascinating. Yes, the death and destruction of the economy is a really unfortunate side effect, but viruses are a part of this world. If one just looks at them for what they are, they're beautiful and play an important role in nature's balance. It's almost kind of cool to feel the effect they have on your body as they're wreaking their havoc! I'm no spring chicken, and lung stuff has always been my downfall when it comes to getting sick, so I'm not terribly excited about gettin' this one. My mother is a working RN, father retired FNP, Uncle retired occupational health nurse, sister finishing nursing program, other sister does web content for NYU health something or other....I can eat a plate of spaghetti and watch a cyst being removed given what my family used to discuss at the dinner table!

Viruses are some of the simplest genetic entities on Earth. They're also the most important. Here's a little known fact that you might not have come across. The human genome is full of virus remnants and 8% of it is from retroviruses, the same family of viruses that are related to HIV. Like all placental mammals, humans require a retrovirus for foetal development. A retrovirus became fixed in the human genome and helps the development of the placenta during pregnancy. Humans only exist because viruses exist!

 

[Dr_SLO]

Great book! Audible has it too.

And WTF with bats?

Bats are very well adapted to cope with virus infections. The biology remains uncertain and we should really learn more. It's probably linked to the way that innate immune responses are triggered. In mouse models it's possible to knock out certain genes of the innate immune system to survive viral infections even though the animals are infected at similar viral loads.

It's not just bats that carry dangerous human pathogens. Mice carry hantavirus and they seem fine. The one that's a big scare in the non-human primate field is B virus, a herpesvirus carried by macaques. This virus is pretty much 100% lethal to humans without treatment but doesn't kill macaques. The scary thing with B virus is that it's the same as all herpesviruses in that it remains in the body for life. Antivirals are needed to prevent/control reactivation.

 

[bojangle]

Viruses are some of the simplest genetic entities on Earth. They're also the most important. Here's a little known fact that you might not have come across. The human genome is full of virus remnants and 8% of it is from retroviruses, the same family of viruses that are related to HIV. Like all placental mammals, humans require a retrovirus for foetal development. A retrovirus became fixed in the human genome and helps the development of the placenta during pregnancy. Humans only exist because viruses exist!

Wow, interesting. I didn't know that.

 

[phil turdwater]

i just started reading about ancient giant viruses thawing from the permafrost, then i started reading they can edit genes. then i freaked out and stopped reading about this shit.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/giant-viruses-also-attack-tiny-microbes/

 

[Dr_SLO]

i just started reading about ancient giant viruses thawing from the permafrost, then i started reading they can edit genes. then i freaked out and stopped reading about this shit.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/giant-viruses-also-attack-tiny-microbes/

Giant viruses are amazing! There are also an abundance of viruses that change the behavior of creatures. Below are two great podcast from the 'This Week in' series that discuss the viral zombification of insects...

TWiEVO 33: Fly by virus

TWiV 443: On a leaf, no one can hear you scream

 

[Snaggy]

I stumbled onto an article about the unique mechanisms some different viruses use to defeat the Complement arm of our immune system. Each strategy was surgically precise and just needed a few genes.

Fighting a bacterial infection is like facing a human wave attack. Viruses find a tiny vulnerability and take us apart like a master butcher.

 

[DucatiHoney]

Viruses are some of the simplest genetic entities on Earth. They're also the most important. Here's a little known fact that you might not have come across. The human genome is full of virus remnants and 8% of it is from retroviruses, the same family of viruses that are related to HIV. Like all placental mammals, humans require a retrovirus for foetal development. A retrovirus became fixed in the human genome and helps the development of the placenta during pregnancy. Humans only exist because viruses exist!

I thought I heard something similar about bacteria in the ocean have viruses in their chromosomes (perhaps it’s not similar at all) on RadioLab a couple of weeks ago. It’s a defense mechanism for the bacteria. I guess they and viruses are arch enemies (in the ocean.) I may have to download that podcast and pay attention this time...

 

[phil turdwater]

Giant viruses are amazing! There are also an abundance of viruses that change the behavior of creatures. Below are two great podcast from the 'This Week in' series that discuss the viral zombification of insects...

TWiEVO 33: Fly by virus

TWiV 443: On a leaf, no one can hear you scream

ok i feel better now-

 

[Dr_SLO]

ok i feel better now-

Got to love the giant microbes!

 

[Dr_SLO]

I thought I heard something similar about bacteria in the ocean have viruses in their chromosomes (perhaps it’s not similar at all) on RadioLab a couple of weeks ago. It’s a defense mechanism for the bacteria. I guess they and viruses are arch enemies (in the ocean.) I may have to download that podcast and pay attention this time...

You heard correct. Viruses infect everything and bacteriophages are super cool. So much so that they can control eukaryotic reproduction.