The Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 - The Molecule of the Year

Michael Letko joins TWiV to discuss his research on understanding cell receptors required for sarbecovirus entry, including an ACE2-dependent isolate from Russian bats that is resistant to vaccine-induced antibodies.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit,  Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker

Guest: Michael Letko

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• Support MicrobeTV with a Spike t-shirt (Vaccinated.us) with promo code MicrobeTV
• Cell entry of SARS-CoV-2 and other sarbecoviruses (Nat Micro)
• ACE2-dependent sarbecovirus in Russian bats (PLoS Path)
• Letters read on TWiV 954
• Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Brianne – Sometimes This Octopus is So Mad it Just Wants to Throw Something or The Cosmic Bat Nebula Kathy – APODs  Jupiter,  Lunar Eclipse Blood Moon, Ice Giant Rich – Mirror-image T7 transcription of chirally inverted ribosomal and functional RNAs (Wiki: Mirror Life) Vincent – The 2022-2023 Respiratory Virus Season Hits Early and Hard: Part 1

Debby – Celebrate Bob McDonald’s 30 years as host of Quirks & Quarks

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv