To better understand BKPyV replication and ways to prevent it, researchers in the UAB Department of Microbiology have published a single-cell analysis of BKPyV infection in primary kidney cells. Their ...

Many aspects of viral infections are not directly related to the action of the virus in question. Complications associated with infections can be permanent or curable. One critical aspect of ...

The replicative helicase-catalyzed unwinding of the DNA double helix is the initiation of DNA replication. Helicases and primases are functionally related enzymes that have even been expressed as ...

Human DNA in its natural state inside cells (left) compared to eight hours after being infected with HSV-1 (right). The virus compacts the human genome’s size significantly and moves it towards the ...

Viruses rely on hosts to survive. But some viruses are more effective at reproducing than others. Now, new research has shown that the herpes virus, more specifically herpes simplex virus type 1 ...

A giant DNA virus pulled from a Japanese freshwater pond is forcing scientists to rethink how complex cells first acquired their defining feature: the nucleus. Named ushikuvirus, the newly ...

Genetics tools have advanced significantly in recent decades, and have allowed scientist to sequence all of the genetic material they find in any sample. That has enabled researchers to discover giant ...

A tiny, four-fingered "hand" folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral particles from entering cells to ...

The story of life’s beginnings gets stranger when you look closely at viruses. These tiny entities seem to sit at the edge of biology. They carry genetic material, but they cannot make proteins on ...

Viruses play a major role in the functioning of ecosystems. They profoundly influence the dynamics of microbial communities, ...

Using genomics, evolutionary biologists test several hypotheses on the origin of viruses. New evidence suggests they may have emerged more times than previously thought. Corroborating the virus-first ...