Nels and Vincent review a preprint demonstrating that changes in the genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 variants B1.351 and P.1 allow the viruses to reproduce in mouse cells in culture and in laboratory mice.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Tony Schountz on TWiV 668
• SARS-CoV-2 variants infect mice (bioRxiv)
• CoVariants
• Letters read on TWiEVO 66
• Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Nels – Billion years of plate tectonics Vincent – Sapiens a Graphic History by Yuval Noah Harari

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Nels and Vincent review evidence that a single amino acid change in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein has driven adaptation to humans, followed by an update on the status of variants of concern.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Selective sweep drove SARS-CoV-2 adaptation (bioRxiv)
• Novel coronavirus haplotypes
• Letters read on TWiEVO 65
• Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Nels – Radio Garden Vincent – Our World in Data – Coronavirus

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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

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• 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!

Nels – Biden Administration PCAST and The Hill We Climb Vincent – Four inaugural quotations – Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Biden

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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

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• 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!

Nels – Katalin Karikos’ career and mRNA vaccines Vincent – Reverse Engineering of mRNA vaccine

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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

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• This Week in Ants (TWiEVO 13)
• Raiders of the Lost Orco (TWiEVO 18)
• Army Ants by Daniel Kronauer
• Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks!

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

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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.

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• 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!

Nels – Scott Edwards bikes across US; support diversity in evolution Vincent – 30 computers sculpture project

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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

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Science Picks

Nels - Science Mill Virtual Tour and Benefit Vincent - Das Coronavirus summaries

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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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

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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 [email protected]