• tRNA Chop Shop: Retro­trans­posons Be­ware

    by Jamie Henzy — Ver­te­brate genomes are teem­ing with se­quences from retro­viruses that have in­fected the cells of the germ line over the course of evo­lu­tion. Known as en­doge­nous retro­viruses (ERVs), the vast ma­jor­ity of these once fierce foes have been de­fanged by mu­ta­tions that make them in­ca­pable of ex­press­ing vi­ral pro­teins, let alone in­fec­tious par­ti­cles.

  • Pa­le­ovi­rol­ogy

    by Welkin John­son — How does one even be­gin to in­ves­ti­gate the nat­ural his­tory of viruses? The di­nosaurs be­queathed a mot­ley as­sort­ment of bones, teeth, foot­prints strid­ing 'cross an­cient riverbeds, fos­silized eggs, the oc­ca­sional co­pro­lite. The tiny trilo­bite left last­ing and ubiq­ui­tous im­pres­sions, find­ing its way into...