Virology Live #24: Unusual Infectious Agents

What is the smallest genome that can sustain an infectious agent? Might the genome of an infectious agent encode no protein? Could an infectious agent exist without a genome? These questions are answered by the amazing viroids - small RNAs that encode no proteins - satellite viruses, and prions - infectious proteins that cause diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

Room Name: Virus

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I’m Vincent Racaniello, Earth’s Virology Professor.

I’m also a professor of virology at Columbia University in New York. I’ve been doing research on viruses since 1976, and teaching virology in classrooms and online since 1999. On this YouTube channel I share videos of my lectures, podcasts, and more.

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#microbe #viruses #lecture #COVID-19
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Topics
00:00 Non-Prions
1:12:32 Prions

[Naomi-qbkg]

Started watching live in the morning but fell back asleep, have now seen all two hours plus. Great lecture. And Avocados also grow on trees.

[holmbussler]

I might sound like a broken record, but this was another fantastic session - thank you for doing this! I do look forward to next fall when VIRUSES LIVE 2022 comes up.

[cherrystreetphilosopher]

Former State Veterinarian told me that in Oklahoma, the Deer wasting is endemic (the populations between AR-OK and KS-OK borders) he said he had autopsied many and advised me not to eat any local deer meat, at least avoid spine, neck and head.

Also as far as grinding up downer cattle and feeding it back to the feedlot inventory; like many states Oklahoma has made it illegal make any video recording (including drones) of any part of the feedlots and butchering facilities for beef, pork, chicken, turkey. How would anyone know? It is also a felony to surreptitiously gain employment at any food animal facility in order to record OSHA violations, FDA violations and inhumane slaughtering practices: All passed in order to "Fight the war on terror". Just like the formerly EPA public accessible GEO data of super fund sites and large contamination areas - "Poof". Reports are made, calls are made (no emails), meetings attended; problem "solved".

Never underestimate the impacts of Greed, Hubris, willful Ignorance, and Mammon worship. Caveat Emptor (let the buyer beware). It's called "regulatory capture", and thanks to legislatures (both state and federal), and the general degeneration of critical thinking, the general population scientific literacy is disintegrating into magic thinking, right along with the digital divide.

[marg]

Sorry I couldn’t be present LIVE! Glad to listen to the replay on YouTube. Thank you!

[robertschlesinger]

Excellent video. Very interesting, informative, and worthwhile video. I hope there is soon a practical means of testing for prions getting into the plant product food chain. Merry Saturnalia, Vincent!

[MrOzzyCam]

Thanks Vincent for another great lecture!

[holmbussler]

I found this little marvel of a very fitting poem by Jonathan Swift
in the opening lines of an article written by
Eugene Koonin and Mart Krupovic
in Nature: (No. 540; 8 Dec 2016):
“So nat’ralists observe, a flea
Has smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller fleas to bite ’em.
And so proceeds ad infinitum.”

[listening]

Is virology live on Apple podcasts and Spotify? I hope to review it when I’m offline.

[listening]

2:26:12 Whether or not life is unique to Earth 🌍 or not, you definitely are unique to Earth, Vincent! 🙂

[BigGuy]

Your second viroid example affects avocados, which grow on trees. So yes, viroids can infect trees.

[dacisky]

Fascinating and scary.Still, thanks for doing this.