Identification of hot spring Obelisk-like RNA replicons and expanded diversity of the Obelisk superfamily - Nature Communications In this study, the authors identify circular RNAs replicating in high-temperature hot spring environments and demonstrate that ccc RNA replicons belonging to the Obelisk superfamily are more diverse and widespread than previously recognized, revealing hidden RNA systems in natural environments.

Identification of hot spring Obelisk-like RNA replicons and expanded diversity of the Obelisk superfamily | Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-71096-6

New transcription signals in SARS-CoV-2 reshape virus–host interactions Non-spike changes driving SARS-CoV-2 fitness remain undiscovered. This Primer comments on two PLOS Biology papers that show that evolutionary N gene mutations create a transcription-regulating sequenc...

New transcription signals in SARS-CoV-2 reshape virus–host interactions

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Argentina reports hundreds of new chikungunya cases In a follow-up on the chikungunya outbreak in Argentina, the Argentina National Epidemiological Surveillance System (BEN) reports 268 new cases of chikungunya fever during the week ending April 11.

Argentina reports hundreds of new chikungunya cases
open.substack.com/pub/outbreak...

Polyomaviruses and cancer — such a fascinating and complex relationship. Looking forward to your talk!

I have the pleasure of giving a talk at this year's SFV meeting.

What shapes the human DNA virome? Analysis of blood & saliva shows persistent viruses (EBV, HHV-6B, HHV-7, anelloviruses), with viral load varying by age, higher in men, and influenced by host genetics (MHC, ERAP1, ERAP2).

The official taxonomy of viruses have just been updated
ictv.global/news/MSL41

Updated data in:
ICTV 2025 master species list (MSL41)
ictv.global/msl
Virus Metadata Resource 2025 (MSL41)
ictv.global/vmr

🎉 Registration for ECCB 2026 is now open!
Join the computational biology community in Geneva for 5 days of science & collaboration. Organized by the @sib.swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.
⏰ Early bird until 31 March
📆 31 Aug - 4 Sep 2026
👉 eccb2026.org/registration...
#eccb2026 #GenevaLovesData

Preprint: Identification and structural characterisation of a picornavirus integrin receptor with an essential role of two distinct glycans for virus infection
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-9...

AlphaFold database has entered the era of complexes. Together with NVIDIA, DeepMind and EBI, we use ColabFold, OpenFold and MMseqs2-GPU to predict ~31 million complexes (homo & hetro-dimers) resulting in 1.8 million high-quality predictions
📄 research.nvidia.com/labs/dbr/ass...
🌐 alphafold.ebi.ac.uk

AlphaFold hits ‘next level’: the AI database now includes protein pairing The database of 200 million protein-structure predictions now includes homodimers, adding new biological relevance.

@ecallaway.bsky.social wrote a news article on our AlphaFold complex work. Thank you for covering it.

📄 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Structures of Marburgvirus glycoprotein and its complex with NPC1 receptor - Nature Marburgvirus glycoprotein binds to the endosomal receptor NPC1 in a distinct orientation with higher affinity compared with Ebola virus glycoprotein, accompanied by fusion-relevant rearrangements, enabling more efficient viral entry.

Nature research paper: Structures of Marburgvirus glycoprotein and its complex with NPC1 receptor

go.nature.com/4urU3yb

How fast does a protein fold? Real-time technique captures the moment Proteins assume complex 3D shapes even faster than does DNA, which is a simpler molecule.

Scientists say they have made some of the first direct measurements of how long it takes an individual, ordinary protein to fold – and the results were surprising.

go.nature.com/3N4UrSD

Influenza A(H3N2) subclade K (J.2.4.1) dominated this winter (>80% of infections in the Northern Hemisphere).

Baseline antibody titers to subclade K variants were lower than to other H1N1/H3N2 strains—and vaccine-induced responses were also significantly weaker.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Out today: We discovered new viral proteins that target immune signaling molecules, solely based on their AlphaFold-predicted shapes

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Congrats Nitzan Tal and coauthors! Thank you Kranzusch lab for the fun collaboration!

Linking below previous thread on our findings

⏰Abstract submission for #ViBioM2026 is open until midnight tonight (00:00 CET) - Don't miss your chance to present a talk at the International Virus Bioinformatics Meeting! 🎤🦠🧬💻
👉 evbc.uni-jena.de/events/vibio...
#virology #bioinformatics

Direct binding to host Pol II for cap snatching could explain why this negative-strand RNA virus replicates in the nucleus. Really elegant biology.

Co-transcriptional cap snatching by influenza virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase helps make viral mRNAs stable and competent for nuclear export and translation @nature.com @maxplanck.de
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Coupling of polymerase-nucleoprotein-RNA in an influenza virus mini ribonucleoprotein complex - Nature Communications Influenza virus ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) are essential for replication and transcription. Here, authors solve the cryo-EM structure of influenza mini-vRNP to reveal detailed FluPol–NP–RNA coupling and suggest a conformational shift in RNPs during the viral life cycle.

A real nice work on influenza replication complex :
Coupling of polymerase-nucleoprotein-RNA in an influenza virus mini ribonucleoprotein complex | Nature Communications

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64741-z

Exploring ICTV virus metadata just got easier on ViralZone — interactive table, instant CSV export, and full search. The new species names are displayed alongside virus names and acronyms.

viralzone.expasy.org/resources/VM...

(source: ictv.global/vmr)

The ViralZone alphavirus virion just got an update based on the latest chikungunya virus data. Check out the fascinating pattern of the capsid linked to the membrane proteins.

viralzone.expasy.org/625

Congratulations on this incredible milestone! Five years of pioneering work on viral proteins, and now Viro3D integrated into AlphaFold DB — that's the kind of data that moves science forward. Well deserved! 🎉

It is almost five years since I first applied AlphaFold to a handful of viral proteins.

Today, hundreds of thousands of predictions and many discoveries later, we are delighted to announce the integration of our Viro3D dataset into the @ebi.embl.org and Google DeepMind AlphaFold Database.

That is some cool shit, right there! Detailed structure of a herpesvirus tail!! Lineal descendants of bacterial viruses and their structures are among us....😁 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and ‘biodefense’ from the agency’s website.

The NIAID is expected to deprioritize biodefense and pandemic preparedness in an overhaul of its funded research projects

go.nature.com/4kBhiRT

Here we go: a method to predict symmetric protein complexes—exactly what’s needed to reconstruct full viral capsids from AlphaFold models.

Rabies an increasing threat in Ukraine Cases of rabies infection in animals and animal bites in humans have been increasing in Ukraine since Russia's invasion of the country in February, 2022. Ed Holt reports.

Rabies an increasing threat in Ukraine - The Lancet Infectious Diseases www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Nipah virus outbreaks in Kerala - Wikipedia

Nipah virus was first identified in Malaysia, but in the past decade outbreaks have repeatedly hit Kerala, India (2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024), causing at least 21 deaths. In 2025, suspected cases are once again under investigation.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nipah_v...

Here’s a genomic map of Nipah virus sequences collected globally from ~1998–2025, based on Nextstrain’s phylogenetic dataset.
nextstrain.org/nipah/all

Nipah virus is a long-known zoonosis, spilling over from fruit bats and capable of human-to-human spread. Small outbreaks occur almost every year, especially in Kerala, India.

In the recent West Bengal outbreak, the unknown source of infection has led to heightened precautions.