This Week in Evolution

Nels and Vincent consider evolution of antibody immunity to SARS-CoV-2, and update the situation on novel virus variants of concern with potentially altered fitness and reactivity with antibodies. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO Links for this episode Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (Nature) mRNA vaccine-elicited antibodies to variants (bioRxiv) Scott Hensley thread (Twitter) Analysis of B.1.17 lineage (virological) Trevor Bedford thread (Twitter) Andrew Rambaut on variant naming (Twitter) Letters read on TWiEVO 64 Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks! Science Picks Nels – Biden Administration PCAST and The Hill We Climb Vincent – Four inaugural quotations – Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Biden Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Nels and Vincent wrap up 2020 with a discussion of novel variants of SARS-CoV-2 that have emerged in the United Kingdom and South Africa, how to interpret the rapidly emerging genome sequence data and what to look for in the coming weeks as these variants spread across the globe. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO Links for this episode Preliminary genomic characterization of UK variant (virological) Clinical outcomes of infection with Orf8 variants (Lancet) Global Report Investigating Novel Coronavirus Haplotypes (GRINCH) South African SARS-CoV-2 lineage (medRxiv) Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks! Science Picks Nels – Katalin Karikos' career and mRNA vaccines Vincent – Reverse Engineering of mRNA vaccine Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Daniel joins Nels and Vincent to discuss his new book on army ants, the wickedest insects ever to roam the planet, and his research on them and clonal raider ants. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Guest: Daniel Kronauer Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO Links for this episode This Week in Ants (TWiEVO 13) Raiders of the Lost Orco (TWiEVO 18) Army Ants by Daniel Kronauer Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks! Science Picks Daniel – Desert Navigator by Rüdiger Wehner and Insects of Suriname by Maria Sibylla Merian Nels – NPR Scicommers Vincent – The Vintage Beauty Of Soviet Control Rooms Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Nels and Vincent discuss an opinion piece on 12 evolutionary insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic is shaping human nature, and prolonged SARS-CoV-2 reproduction in an immunosuppressed patient. Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO Links for this episode Microbe.TV on instagram Pandemic exposes human nature (PNAS) Carl Bergstrom calls BS (Twitter) Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 reproduction in patient (J Inf Dis) Letters read on TWiEVO 61 Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks! Science Picks Nels – Scott Edwards bikes across US; support diversity in evolution Vincent – 30 computers sculpture project Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

On the fifth anniversary of TWiEVO, Nels and Vincent invite 12 evolutionary biologists to describe exciting future directions for the field and their laboratory in the next five years. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Guests: Lillian Fritz Laylin, Talia Karasov, Andrew Kern, Sarah Tishkoff, Dmitri Petrov, Nancy Chen, Amanda Larracuente, John McCutcheon, Ambika Kamath, Chip Aquadro, Rebekah Rogers, Yaniv Braindvain, and Harmit Malik Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO Science Picks Nels - Science Mill Virtual Tour and Benefit Vincent - Das Coronavirus summaries Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Nels and Vincent answer listener questions and discuss a newly discovered virus of amoeba with a nearly complete ORFan genome: none of the proteins encoded in the viral genome look like any other proteins. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO Links for this episode Yaravirus (PNAS) Letters read on TWiEVO 59 Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks! Science Picks Nels - Blog by Ambika Kamath Vincent - TWiVerse Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Simon and Heather join TWiEVO to discuss their analysis of the evolutionary history of ACE2 usage by coronaviruses in the Sarbecovirus genus. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Guests: Simon Anthony and Heather Wells Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO Links for this episode Evolutionary history of sarbecovirus ACE2 binding (bioRxiv) Bombali virus in bats (Nat Micro) Herpesviruses in Puerto Rican bats (bioRxiv) Adenovirus and herpesvirus in great apes (PLoS One) Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks! Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Jessie, Allie and Tyler join Nels and Vincent to describe their work on deep mutational scanning of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Guests: Jesse Bloom, Allie Greaney, and Tyler Starr Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO Links for this episode Bloom Laboratory Deep mutational scanning of SARS-CoV-2 RBD (bioRxiv) Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks! Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Nels and Vincent continue their discussion of SARS-CoV-2 evolution, including understanding recurrent mutations in the viral genome, and the potential for re-emergence of the virus from an animal reservoir. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO SARS-CoV-2 genomic diversity (Inf, Genet, Evol) Re-emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (bioRxiv) Tackling SARS-CoV-2 rumors (virological.org) Letters read on TWiEVO 56 Image credit Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks! Science Picks Nels - The Cell in Evolution Vincent - Visual Science Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Nels and Vincent continue their discussion of SARS-CoV-2 evolution, with a report that the coronavirus proofreading enzyme stimulates RNA recombination, and debunking the conclusion that a change in the viral spike glycoprotein is associated with increased human to human transmission. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO CoV proofreading enzyme stimulates recombination (bioRxiv) CoV spike mutation pipeline (bioRxiv) Issues with CoV sequencing data (virological.org) Bill Hanage on selection vs bottleneck (threader.app) Image credit Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks! Science Picks Nels - In Memoriam: Gordon Lark Vincent - John Oliver Discussion of Antibody Tests Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv