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...

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Chemotherapy that makes cancer cells look like they’re infected with a virus:

ROS>ER stress>UPR>increased MAVS>Type I IFN/CXCL10

Now published:

www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/18...

MYC binding to nascent RNA suppresses innate immune signaling by R-loop-derived RNA-DNA hybrids In response to perturbed transcription elongation, the MYC oncoprotein multimerizes and undergoes a phase transition. Here, we demonstrate that MYC gl…

#WeekendRead #MysterySolved! MYC is one of the most famous #oncogenes & a potential therapeutic target but how does it work? Uhl, Eilers &co show @cp-cell.bsky.social that MYC binds introns during RNA stalling preventing export of dsRNA & DNA/RNA hybrids & anti-tumoral TLR3 activation!

Postdoctoral Fellow Job Posting Title: Postdoctoral Fellow ---- Hiring Department: Molecular Biosciences ---- Position Open To: All Applicants ---- Weekly Scheduled Hours: 40 ---- FLSA Status: Exempt ---- Earliest Start ...

#PostdocRecruiting:
My group at the University of Texas at Austin is recruiting a Postdoc in virology and structural biology. Please see more details here:
utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UTstaff/job/...

Informal inquiries are encouraged, and see more lab info here: zunlongke-lab.org

A Break in a Longstanding Mystery about Origin of Complex Life Breathe easy. It appears our microbial ancestors used oxygen, too.

Some of our earliest microbial ancestors, the Asgard archaea, were able to use oxygen, says new study in @nature.com. It may solve a mystery about how complex life first arose.

#AsgardArchaea #MicrobialEcology #Eukaryogenesis #TexasScience @utmsi.bsky.social @archaeal.bsky.social

Polyomaviruses are masters of persistence and dissemination: we show there are two forms of long-term persistent PyVs in the kidney: the majority being cryptic (non-shedding) and a minority that actively shed, and these fates are determined shortly after infection.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

3 papers in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social today exploring the mechanistic connection between Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis #MultipleSclerosis
cell.com/cell/fulltex...
cell.com/cell/fulltex...
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

I chatted with @philiprlang.bsky.social on his podcast about how a virus might be involved in bladder cancer. Since "Phil Lang is Not a Scientist", we made this really accessible. If you're interested in how small sneaky DNA viruses might contribute to the origins of cancers, give it a listen.

Although not covered in our review because of its more recent posting, there is a related important manuscript from Denise Galloway's lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

His covers seminal older work from Luis Villarreal (UCI) as well as newer important work including findings from Jim Pipas' lab (U Pitt) and Sunni Thompson's lab (UA Birmingham).

mGem: Deciphering how polyomaviruses coexist with their hosts for a lifetime | mBio It has been said that “Energy and persistence conquer all things” (Benjamin Franklin). Viral persistence refers to the ability of some viruses to establish long-term infections rather than being clear...

Our tiny review on exciting new findings on how polyomaviruses persist:

journals.asm.org/eprint/MGEK6...

Craig! Hope the holidays have been most excellent for you and here’s to 2026!

I heart Neil.

Check out @lizthayer.bsky.social's new preprint exploring factors that influence cell-to-cell heterogeneity in interferon (IFN) induction potential!

An Argonaute protein traffics from nematode to mouse and is a vaccine against parasitic nematodes - EMBO Reports Argonautes are ancient proteins with well-characterised functions in cell-autonomous gene regulation and genome defence, but less clear roles in non-cell-autonomous processes. Extracellular Argonautes...

Vesicle and non-vesicle-mediated inter-kingdom delivery of an Argonaute from nematode to mouse

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Virus-induced APOBEC3 transmutagenesis in bladder cancer initiation A model for hit-and-run viral carcinogenesis in the bladder.

How long-term persistent virus infection could cause inflammatory-associated cancer in uninfected cells:

Polyomavirus BKPyV

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

Common Childhood Virus Causes DNA Damage Driving Bladder Cancer The BK virus, which up to 80% of the population get infected with during childhood, can drive the development of bladder cancer down the line.

BK Polyomavirus (BKPyV) linked to bladder cancer via APOBEC.

“Common Childhood Virus Causes DNA Damage Driving Bladder Cancer”

www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/oncol...

Dicer accumulates in cytoplasmic foci upon alphavirus infection and plays a proviral role in Myotis myotis bat cells Bats are reservoirs for many viruses that frequently cause epidemics in humans and animals. It is thus critical to better understand their immune system and mechanisms of antiviral immunity. Despite a...

🚨Preprint alert! Kind of a late notice, but here is our latest work on bat Dicer and viral infection. Work led by @leagaucherand.bsky.social and Hugo Marie in the lab. @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social @unistra.fr @frm-officiel.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

If anyone is at #RNA2025, please stop by my lab’s posters on triphosphate balance and virus infection and tracking persistent infection with precision to identify viral miRNA functions.

Authors Szymanik and Mojumder are really great and are presenting in the second session this Friday from 8-10.

Shedding dynamics of a DNA virus population during acute and long-term persistent infection Author Summary/ Importance Polyomavirus infections, mostly benign but potentially fatal for immunocompromised individuals, undergo acute and long-term persistent infections. Typically, polyomavirus-as...

Small DNA viruses can concurrently shed via two different patterns: continuous low-level shedding of numerous reservoirs and punctuated rare high shedding from one or a few reservoirs.

We hope tools presented here are useful to study other persistent pathogens.

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Hsc70-4: An unanticipated mediator of dsRNA internalization in Drosophila Hsc70-4 localizes to the cell surface of Drosophila cells, binds to exogenous dsRNA, and mediates its internalization.

Stop for a second and try to imagine this: a heat shock protein relocalizes to the cell surface and mediates dsRNA binding and internalization!
Intrigued? Read our newly minted paper in Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Congrats to all the authors and thanks to reviewers and editor!

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...

Newest: Virologs mark #RNA metabolism as an evolutionary battleground during infection - Great collaboration w/@sullivanlab.bsky.social & Kayla Szymanik @plos.org journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

New Resource Article:
Joseph Ziegelbauer @drjz.bsky.social and colleagues profile cis- and trans-acting elements of viral circRNAs and identify noncanonical mechanisms underlying back-splicing - utilizing their custom-built “CHARLIE” pipeline
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

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...

Another nice example of a host-acquired gene in poxviruses, which modulates the host immune response.
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

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...

This work depended on the creative mind of Benni Goetz who came up with new ways to visualize and analyze virus barcode data. Unfortunately, Benni passed away before publication of his work. We hope his methods will be useful to others studying diverse microbes and persistent infection.

This may help explain the ubiquity and success of these viruses for long term persistence.

Shedding dynamics of a DNA virus population during acute and long-term persistent infection Although much is known of the molecular mechanisms of virus infection within cells, substantially less is understood about within-host infection. Such knowledge is key to understanding how viruses tak...

Happy to share our manuscript showing that a small DNA virus can concurrently shed via two different patterns: continuous low-level shedding of numerous reservoirs and punctuated rare high shedding from one or a few reservoirs.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Please add me too. I am a virologist at UT Austin.