{"335551":{"#nid":"335551","#data":{"type":"event","title":"The Viruses They are a Changin: On The Eco-evolutionary Dynamics of Virus-Host Interactions","body":[{"value":"\u003Ch5\u003ESoP Biophysics Seminar Series: Dr. Joshua Weitz, Georgia Tech, School of Biology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003EViruses are ubiquitous in the environment, with densities often ten-fold higher than that of their microbial hosts. Viruses can function like microbial predators, regulating the amount and diversity of hosts present in a community. However, efforts to understand the dynamics of complex virus-microbe communities are still in their infancy. Here, I present examples of the interplay between evolutionary and ecological dynamics arising due to virus-microbe interactions. In the first example, I show how rapid changes in the frequency of bacterial strains that differ in their susceptibility to infection can imprint a novel ecological signature - so-called cryptic dynamics. \u0026nbsp;Then, in a second example, I show how rapid changes in the frequencies of hosts and viruses that differ in their cross-infectivity can reverse the canonical predictions of Lotka-Volterra (and similar) dynamics, leading to dynamics in which it appears that hosts eat viruses. In both examples, I synthesize insights from theory and models with results from laboratory experiments. \u0026nbsp;However, applying such insights to the environment requires addressing an ongoing challenge: how to characterize who infects whom when many ubiquitous microbes and associated viruses are not yet culturable. \u0026nbsp;I close with a discussion of recent innovations that can help shed light on the interactions of viruses and microbes using culture-independent techniques.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Viruses They are a Changin: On The Eco-evolutionary Dynamics of Virus-Host Interactions"}],"uid":"27664","created_gmt":"2014-10-20 15:14:29","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:09:50","author":"Alison Morain","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2014-11-04T14:00:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2014-11-04T15:00:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2014-11-04T15:00:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2014-11-04 19:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2014-11-04 20:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2014-11-04 20:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"11384","name":"viruses"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:alison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ealison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}