285: How Plague Got Deadly

TWiM reveals a new type of satellite virus that requires only phage tails for producing infectious virus particles, and that highly virulent plague bacteria differs from its innocuous enteric predecessor by its resistance to lysis by human complement.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Michael Schmidt. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email.

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Links for this episode

• Viruses that steal bacteriophage tails (Cell Host Microbe)
• Y. pestis not susceptible to human complement (Appl Environ Micro)
• How Y. pestis got its pathogenic groove (Appl Environ Micro)
• Risks of another pandemic (TedEd)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.