Our recent submission to BioRxiv on SARS-CoV-2 ORF8: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…. We predict it has a key role in viral pathogenesis.

I did a quick twitter search on SARS-CoV orf8 protein. And I am amazed by the number of twitters discussing about its mutations and a lot of people are wondering about its function. Our lab has demonstrated the protein to be a new immunoglobulin protein... biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

And here’s the graphic for last tweet: tinyurl.com/sdwsjx6

Excited to share our latest preprint "The origin and evolution of a distinct mechanism of transcription initiation in yeasts". Excellent work completed by SLUBiology graduate student Zhaolian Lu. SLU Research, @NSF_BIO, Evolutionary Genomics disq.us/t/3niu8sp

Congratulations to Zhaolian Lu on passing her dissertation defense with distinction, and for her impressive accomplishment as a SLUBiology graduate student. Thank you, Dr. Lu, for your tremendous contributions to our group.🎇🍾👏 SLU Research Saint Louis University

mbio.asm.org/content/11/3/e… Working with lab alumnus Dapeng Zhang (SLU) we describe novel Ig domains in coronaviruses including the agent of the current pandemic SARS-CoV-2 in mBio.

Our latest paper on the evolution of channel & channel-related proteins with ZhangLab_SLU is out. Among other things it traces the emergence of the coronaviral ORF3A-like viroporin from the ancient nidoviral structural membrane protein M. #SARSCoV2 academic.oup.com/ve/advance-art…

Liberibacter pathogens, endophytic and nonculturable bacteria, cause a number of crop diseases worldwide. Up now, Yongjun Tan tells us about their phylogenomic work analyzing Liberibacter to understand evolutionary transitions in living habitats and pathogenicity. #ISMB2022