This Week in Virology #72: Bucket of bolts

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.

Download TWiV #72 (62 MB .mp3, 85 minutes)

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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

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.