This Week in Virology (TWiV) #139: Honey, I shrunk the virus

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.

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.