Non-canonical proteolytic activation of RNase L by SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro offsets inactivation of OAS1 p46 antiviral signaling Bell et al. demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 3C-like main protease (3CLpro/Mpro) antagonizes the OAS-RNase L antiviral pathway by cleaving off the prenylated-Cys397 anchor from OAS1 p46, displacing it from...

🚨 New publication 🚨
Our collaboration with the Overall lab at UBC has yielded new insights from our latest study on SARS-CoV-2 and its impact on the human immune system. Incredible work by all the trainees. #LoveVirology
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

@cp-cellreports.bsky.social

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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...

SUPER COOL to have my recent paper highlighted by CoV transcription legends, Drs Isabel Sola & Sonia Zuñiga in a PLoS Bio Primer.

A much better read than the AI summary of the paper 💥

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Evolution of a truncated nucleocapsid protein enhances SARS-CoV-2 fitness by suppressing antiviral responses SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to optimize its replication fitness in the human host. This study shows that a nucleocapsid gene mutation enhances production of a truncated protein that boosts viral fitness in...

💥 Paper published 💥

Curious how #SARS2 has changed since jumping into humans? We were too!

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

🧵 🧵 🧵

Evolution of a truncated nucleocapsid protein enhances SARS-CoV-2 fitness by suppressing antiviral responses SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to optimize its replication fitness in the human host. This study shows that a nucleocapsid gene mutation enhances production of a truncated protein that boosts viral fitness in...

So proud to have worked alongside @rorymulloy.bsky.social and @corcoranlab.bsky.social on this amazing project, now out in @plosbiology.org!

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Deltaviruses spread through a viral Trojan Horse Hepatitis D-like satellite viruses, known as deltaviruses, have been recently discovered in a wide range of animals. These viruses are thought to expr…

We found a viral Trojan Horse: a virus can hide inside another virus.This one surprised us: deltaviruses don’t just borrow a helper virus. They can travel inside it.
A literal Trojan Horse “virus-in-a-virus” route into cells. 🤯 Kudos to 1st author @viroscope.bsky.social and co-authors !

Max Fels @mfels.bsky.social from our lab discovers giant DNA viruses that infect amoeba encode eIF4E and the entire suite of 4F complex proteins to control mRNA translation, including beautiful crystal structures of viral 4E bound to modified mRNA 5' caps:

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Febrile temperature activates the innate immune response by promoting aberrant influenza A virus RNA synthesis Fever promotes aberrant influenza A virus RNA synthesis and innate immune activation.

Congratulations to @karishmabisht.bsky.social with her paper on the effect of fever on influenza replication and innate immune activation! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The IFIT2–IFIT3 antiviral complex targets short 5’ untranslated regions on viral mRNAs for translation inhibition - Nature Microbiology Viruses generally have compact genomes, resulting in many viral mRNAs with short 5’ untranslated regions. An antiviral complex exploits this feature of viral mRNAs to selectively inhibit viral protein...

The IFIT2–IFIT3 antiviral complex targets short 5’ untranslated regions on viral mRNAs for translation inhibition

By Dustin Glasner, Matthew Daugherty & colleagues.

#microsky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An awesome preprint on the novel, unsung SARS-CoV-2 N* protein came out recently, authored by @corcoranlab.bsky.social and @rorymulloy.bsky.social. I’ve previously written on N*’s demise in XEC, the top variant for several months, but… threadreaderapp.com/thread/18373...
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Our manuscript on dsRNA sensor OAS2 from the lab of @oliveiramann.bsky.social is now out in @cp-molcell.bsky.social ! Thanks again to the whole team for their effort putting this story together!

Very happy that this story is now published in @plosbiology.org. It includes lots of additional data, (creation of the G215S mutant) & demonstrates the increased growth/ oligomerization of N is specific to the cysteine at 215. Thanks to the coauthors, reviewers and editors who helped improve it!

Viral piracy of host RNA phosphatase DUSP11 by avipoxviruses Author summary Viruses face a critical challenge of disabling or avoiding host immune defenses. Cells typically recognize the presence of a virus through specific molecular markers, including triphosp...

Previously, KO and overexpression showed host RNA 5’ triphosphatase DUSP11 can reduce RIG-I sensitivity.

Here, we show poxviruses code for viral DUSP11 that can regulate host RNP III transcripts and RIG-I, providing evolutionary support DUSP11 can be pro-viral.

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Check out this fun preview of my postdoctoral work! It highlights our findings plus lots of intriguing questions that I’m super excited to tackle in the coming years. (And the model is beautiful! Thank you! 🧑‍🎨 )

Four ways COVID changed virology: lessons from the most sequenced virus of all time After 150,000 articles and 17 million genome sequences, what has science taught us about SARS-Cov-2?

After 150,000 articles and 17 million genome sequences, what has science taught us about SARS-CoV-2?

https://go.nature.com/4iDKrtw

A truncated SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein enhances virus fitness by evading antiviral responses Viruses face a selective pressure to evade cellular antiviral responses to control the outcome of an infection. However, due to their limited genome size, viruses must adopt unique strategies to confr...

Our newest work reveals that SARS-CoV-2 evolved to produce a truncated version of its N protein to antagonize antiviral responses. This 'mini' N, called N*M210, sequesters dsRNA, blocks interferon activation, defeats RNaseL & disassembles stress granules and p-bodies. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...