Malmstrom Ecology Lab

Excited to release this story:

Wild plants face viral surprise Researchers from MSU and UC Riverside have shown that viral diseases from farmland have spread to native habitats.

Multipartite viruses have potential to adjust their genome formulas to optimize performance within different host environments. What factors might constrain this flexibility? Here we look at the influence of mixed infection on genome formula dynamics. Boezen, D., Vermeulen, M., Johnson, M., van der Vlugt, R., Malmstrom, C., & Zwart, M. (2023). Mixed viral infection constrains the genome formula of multipartite cucumber mosaic virus. Frontiers in Virology, 3, Article 1225818.

Mixed viral infection constrains the genome formula of multipartite cucumber mosaic virus Many plant viruses have a multipartite organization, with multiple genome segments packaged into separate virus particles. The genome formula describes the relative frequencies of all viral genome segments, and previous work suggests rapid changes in these frequencies facilitate virus adaptation. Ma...

Invasive introduced viruses are a concern for native plant conservation:

Non-native plant viruses prevalent in remnant natural plant communities harm native perennial hosts | Phytobiomes Journal Plant viruses are ubiquitous throughout plant communities, but research on viral impacts largely focuses on crops. Little is known about how viruses influence wild plants in their native habitats. To address this gap, we examined virus interactions with wild drought-tolerant perennials in California...

Come to ASV 2024 June 24 - 28 in Columbus, Ohio! Abstracts are due February 1.

Abstract Submission | American Society for Virology Abstract submission for the ASV 2024 annual meeting is now open at the ScholarOne abstract submission site. The deadline for abstract submission is Thursday, February 1, 2024 (11:59 pm./23…

“"It was always, always do the right thing for the right reason at the right time with the right people. [And] you will have no regrets for the rest of your life." - Allan McDonald”

Remembering Allan McDonald: He Refused To Approve Challenger Launch, Exposed Cover-Up Allan McDonald, who directed the booster rocket project at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol, urged delaying the launch of the space shuttle before it exploded in 1986. He has died at age 83.

Speaking truth.

NASA naming headquarters after ‘Hidden Figures’ engineer Mary Jackson NASA’s headquarters is getting a new name, and it honors the agency’s first Black female engineer Mary Jackson.

MolBio in a pandemic. Great job, Mike and Kota!