Paper and image credit: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
27.02.2026 05:49
👍 1
🔁 1
💬 0
📌 0
Most viruses rely on the host to provide the entire translation machinery. However, giant viruses have evolved to encode part of the machinery themselves. Latest discovery: mimivirus (APMV) encodes its own initiation factor (vIF4F) and specifically promotes translation of viral mRNA!
Check it out if you are at Imperial! The AWA always hosts great events!!
Original paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Great read: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Studying viruses helps us understand cellular processes: the breakthrough discovery of RNA splicing in 1977 was achieved by studying adenovirus (AdV) biology.
They used mRNA/ DNA hybridization and electron microscopy.
Excited for my new chapter at ETHZ
Meet #postdocs who recently joined the D-BSSE
@ethz.ch:
Mélanie Roschewitz | lab of @michaelmoor.bsky.social
advancing medical image analysis using AI tools
> u.ethz.ch/auXVR
& Anita Meier @anitafmeier.bsky.social | lab of #MartinFussenegger
working on gene therapies
> u.ethz.ch/8dFrx
Image credit and awesome site in general: viralzone.expasy.org/125
Great review: Multipartite viruses: adaptive trick or evolutionary treat? | npj Systems Biology and Applications share.google/P6MyoPODiyOj...
Some of the weirdest viruses: Multipartite viruses have segmented genomes that are enclosed in different capsids, which are independently transmitted.
All segments have to meet in the same host cell for complementation. The evolutionary benefit for this lifestyle is unclear.
Check out this beautiful paper (image credit): Zika virus NS1 drives tunneling nanotube formation for mitochondrial transfer and stealth transmission in trophoblasts | Nature Communications share.google/UYRV3BFpAROa...
Zika virus induces nanotube formation 👾 in the host cell to facilitate viral spread.
ZIKV even uses them to acquire mitochondria from neighbouring uninfected cells!
Image: EBNA1 401 to 641 structure with DNA
Credit: Cryo-EM Structure and Functional Studies of EBNA1 Binding to the Family of Repeats and Dyad Symmetry Elements of Epstein-Barr Virus oriP | Journal of Virology journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Epstein-Barr virus encodes a protein called EBNA1, which physically tethers 🤝 the viral DNA to the host chromosome so it doesn't get lost during mitosis.
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
💥 We have 3 positions open in my lab in Basel, Switzerland🇨🇭:
#nanopores #smFRET #biomolecular #dynamics #singleMolecules
We’re looking for talented & ambitious new colleagues enthusiastic about biomolecular dynamics & single-molecule tech.
Please share broadly, thank you!🤝
schmid.chemie.unibas.ch
Application deadline for up to 5 @mrc-lms.bsky.social postdoc positions in developmental epigenetics closes soon - don’t miss out! Positions across both experimental and computational projects. Come and join our fantastic team science community!
Don't forget to sign up to reserve your spot!
🍿🥂🍪Signing up now will also ensure that we order enough drinks and snacks!
Beautiful article characterising how HSV-1 alters the host chromosome and nuclear architecture and image credit: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infections dramatically change the architecture of the host nucleus. HSV-1 specifically recruits certain host factors (e.g. RNAPII) to promote its replication.
HSV-1 actively rewires the human genome!
😲Look at how the host genome gets squeezed!!
We have a 3-year funded postdoc position to work on structures of #amyloid filaments. If you are an expert in protein biochemistry, structural biology or #cryoEM / #cryoET, this could be for you! Feel free to email me with any questions. Come join us! 🤩
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
#JobAlert! We have an opening for a postdoctoral scientist in #CancerMetabolism in my lab @mrc-lms.bsky.social. If you're interested in the role of metabolism in drug response and resistance in cancer, and would like to work in a fun and friendly team, check it out: lms.mrc.ac.uk/work/vacanci...
💥Our next AWA event is all about networking, mentorship and how to do it in a way that is right for you.😌
Sign up and come along. Everyone from Imperial/ MRC welcome! Limited spaces available, drinks and snacks included 🥂🧀
🌟 The next event of the Academic Women Association (AWA) is happening!
Registration and details here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/academic-w...
It's apparently a glycoprotein fibril layer and used by the virus to attach itself to amoeba, its natural host. 😎
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
This is a tupanvirus, ~450nm in diameter ~1.2um in length, clearly one of the giant viruses. It encodes for the most complete translational machinery found in viruses with only the ribosome lacking. Most (non-giant) viruses don't encode any components required for translation.
It's so fluffy!! 😱
Many viruses use the acidification of endosomes to change the conformation of their capsid/ envelope enabling the escape into the cytosol to ultimately infect the cell
Blows my mind 🤯 that it is possible to capture the structural dynamics of viral capsid contraction by thawing and re-freezing the ice within the electron microscope!
Anyone interested in microsecond time-resolved cryo-EM should check out this paper:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Weird virus fact:
Bacteriophage 29 (Phi29) uses RNA to help package genomic DNA 🤯. This so-called packaging RNA (pRNA) is an essential part of the packaging motor, which is part of the newly formed viral capsid.
Check out the pRNA (pink) in the beautiful structure:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
This of course contributes to the carcinogenic properties of papillomaviruses.
