Vincent Racaniello selects several notable posts each week from molecular and cellular biology and virology. He unravels viruses at virology blog.
- Pathogenic prions are misfolded proteins that cause fatal neurological diseases. Dendritic cells, sentinels of the innate immune system, may be responsible for moving prions throughout the body.
- Retrons are a type of prokaryotic retroelement responsible for the synthesis of a small extra-chromosomal satellite DNA called multicopy single-stranded DNA (msDNA). Their function is enigmatic, and may never be revealed as research interest in retrons peaked years ago.
- The NSABB has advised against publication of papers that describe isolation of influenza H5N1 strains that transmit by aerosol among ferrets. What is the origin of the fears surrounding this avian virus?
I’ll be back next Friday with more selections.