Dear all,

This Thursday we will have the next journal club meeting. The paper we will discuss is: "The structural and functional role of RNA in icosahedral virus assembly" by Anette Schneemann (Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 60 (2006) p.51-67). The link to the paper is: http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.micro.60.080805.142304

Notice that this journal club has the same number as the previous one, since in my absence, and to my disappointment, the previous journal club meeting was canceled.

Journal club will start on Thursday, August 2nd at 3:30 pm in Bill's office.

Best,

Peter

Dear all,

Next Thursday we (or actually you, since I will be on vacation) will have the next journal club meeting. Chuck suggested three papers from Andreas Hermann, who is just starting an academic position in Groningen (The Netherlands) and who works on combination of DNA and synthetic polymers:

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 45, 4206-10 (2006)
Advan. Materials 19, 1499-1505 (2007)
Org. Biomol. Chem. 5, 1311-20 (2007)

I took a quick glance at the papers and I suggest the following. The last paper (Org. Biomol. Chem. 5, 1311-20 (2007) , http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b617941j) seems to be a nice overview of the emerging area of the combination of DNA and synthetic polymers. I suggest that everyone who wants to get an overview of the methods and applications reads this paper or takes a look at it. I suggest that we (you) discuss the first paper (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 45, 4206-10 (2006), http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.200600524) during journal club.

Journal club will start on Thursday, July 19th at 3:30 pm in Bill's office.

Best,

Peter

Hello folks,

This Thursday we discuss a paper on Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 entry into host cells.

This is the link to the pdf-file on the publisher's website:
http://mcb.asm.org/cgi/content/full/20/13/4922 .

We meet this Thursday, June 14th, at 3:30 pm in Bill's office.

Best,

Peter

Hello folks,

Tomorrow, we revisit a paper (that we discussed earlier on Dec 8th 2005)
due to its immediate relevance to two projects in the lab.

The paper titled "Compact and ordered collapse of randomly generated RNA
sequences" is available in the "Past Articles" section of the Virus
Group file repository, and can be accessed here:
http://virus.chem.ucla.edu/easyfile/file.php?show=20051205194207553

For those without a Virus Group login, here's a link to the publisher:
http://www.nature.com/nsmb/journal/v12/n12/full/nsmb1014.html

See you tomorrow at 2pm at Bill's office (note again, the unusual time
is to accommodate the Physics Colloquium).

Cheers!

Ajay

Dear Colleagues,

This thursday we focus on the Herpes virus, about which we have learnt quite a few surprising things at the last two group meetings. Bill has suggested that we focus mainly on the DNA packaging paper by Zhou et al titled "Visualization of Tegument-Capsid Interactions and DNA in Intact Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Virions".
http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/full/73/4/3210

Time permitting, we can also discuss aspects of how the virus delivers its genome to the host cell as illustrated by a paper from the Helenius group titled "Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Entry into Host Cells: Reconstitution of Capsid Binding and Uncoating at the Nuclear Pore Complex In Vitro"
http://mcb.asm.org/cgi/content/full/20/13/4922

See you all tomorrow and please note that we are meeting earlier (at 2pm) so that people can make it to the Physics Colloquium after.

Cheers!

Ajay

Dear Colleagues,

Journal club is back after a brief hiatus. This time, we will discuss a condensed-matter preprint that may have broad relevance to many experiments in our lab and basic techniques of fluorescent visualization of DNA and RNA.

The manuscript is titled "Transition on the entropic elasticity of DNA induced by intercalating molecules" and is available for download online at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.2346 .

See you all on thursday! (As usual at Bill's office, 3:30p.)

Best,

Ajay

Yes folks, the Virus Journal Club turns 50 this week!!! To celebrate this golden jubilee, I will bring in a respectable collection of savory Indian snacks.

Food for thought will be provided by the latest manuscript on DNA inspired electrostatics from Kunchun Lee and Andrea Liu, titled: "Multivalent-Counterion-Mediated Interactions in Finite Bundles of Charged Rods".

This unpublished manuscript is available *only upon login* at the following virus group website URL:

http://virus.chem.ucla.edu/easyfile/file.php?show=20070220153210479

Cheers!

Ajay

Dear Colleagues,

This week's journal club selection comes from Aron, whom I quote below:

"From the osmotic pressure experiments done by Rau and Parsegian, we know how the free energy varies as a function of the average inter-helical distance between adjacent strands of ds-DNA. However, these experiments don't tell us the relative contribution, to these changes in free energy, from the changes in enthalphy and entropy, nor the signs of the enthalpy and entropy changes. Such information, when available, can provide clues to the origin of the forces that resist DNA compression. The attached 1991 article, by Leiken, Rau and Parsegian, is therefore interesting because it shows how enthalpy and entropy individually vary as a function of inter-helical distance."

The paper is available online from the publisher at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.44.5272

See you soon!

Ajay

Dear all,

The journal club discussion this week is inspired by my recent science retreat and listening to some interesting talks. The paper we are discussing is titled: RNA Catalysis in Model Protocell Vesicles. I have posted the paper on the group website (under journal club papers/future articles) that you can access by logging in:

http://virus.chem.ucla.edu/easyfile/file.php?show=20070206183757580 (Login Required)

See you on Thursday,

Odisse

Hello virus enthusiasts,

After a two month hiatus for the winter holidays, the Virus Journal Club returns from suspended animation this week. The paper of interest delves into the effect of osmolytes on the packaging of bacteriophages.

The 1983 paper, titled "Stability and in vitro DNA packaging of bacteriophages: effects of dextrans, sugars, and polyols."
by P Serwer, W E Masker and J L Allen, can be obtained from the publisher's website at http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/reprint/45/2/665.

See you all on thursday at the traditional 3:30pm time at Bill's office.

Best,

Ajay