Publications by authors named "Coby A McDonald"
Endogenous retroviruses (ERV) are indicators of vertebrate evolutionary history and play important roles as homeostatic regulators. ERV long terminal repeat (LTR) elements may act as cis-activating promoters or trans-activating enhancer elements modifying gene transcription distant from LTR insertion sites. We previously documented that endogenous feline leukemia virus (FeLV)-LTR copy number variation in individual cats tracks inversely with susceptibility to virulent FeLV disease.
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- Infectious diseases in wildlife, like the amphibian-killing fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), threaten global biodiversity, with varying pathogen virulence affecting host responses.
- Research focused on the pumpkin toadlet species Brachycephalus pitanga showed differing immune responses to two Bd lineages: the hypervirulent Bd-GPL and the enzootic Bd-Brazil.
- Findings indicated that while toadlets had a weak immune response to Bd-Brazil that resolved quickly, they exhibited a stronger, delayed response to Bd-GPL, suggesting partial tolerance to the less virulent Bd-Brazil lineage.
Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are increasingly recognized for biological impacts on host cell function and susceptibility to infectious agents, particularly in relation to interactions with exogenous retroviral progenitors (XRVs). ERVs can simultaneously promote and restrict XRV infections using mechanisms that are virus and host specific. The majority of endogenous-exogenous retroviral interactions have been evaluated in experimental mouse or chicken systems, which are limited in their ability to extend findings to naturally infected outbred animals.
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