First Detection of Benign Rabbit Caliciviruses in Chile.

Pathogenic lagoviruses (Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus, RHDV) are widely spread across the world and are used in Australia and New Zealand to control populations of feral European rabbits. The spread of the non-pathogenic lagoviruses, e.g.

Hepatobiliary organoids derived from leporids support the replication of hepatotropic lagoviruses.

The genus of the family contains some of the most virulent vertebrate viruses known. Lagoviruses infect leporids, such as rabbits, hares and cottontails. Highly pathogenic viruses such as (RHDV1) cause a fulminant hepatitis that typically leads to disseminated intravascular coagulation within 24-72 h of infection, killing over 95 % of susceptible animals.

Interventions for the long-term prevention of hereditary angioedema attacks.

Background: Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that causes acute attacks of swelling, pain and reduced quality of life. People with Type I HAE (approximately 80% of all HAE cases) have insufficient amounts of C1 esterase inhibitor (C1-INH) protein; people with Type II HAE (approximately 20% of all cases) may have normal C1-INH concentrations, but, due to genetic mutations, these do not function properly. A few people, predominantly females, experience HAE despite having normal C1-INH levels and C1-INH function (rare Type III HAE).

Lagovirus Non-structural Protein p23: A Putative Viroporin That Interacts With Heat Shock Proteins and Uses a Disulfide Bond for Dimerization.

The exact function(s) of the lagovirus non-structural protein p23 is unknown as robust cell culture systems for the (RHDV) and other lagoviruses have not been established. Instead, a range of and models have been used to study p23, revealing that p23 oligomerizes, accumulates in the cytoplasm, and possesses a conserved C-terminal region with two amphipathic helices. Furthermore, the positional homologs of p23 in other caliciviruses have been shown to possess viroporin activity.

Frequent intergenotypic recombination between the non-structural and structural genes is a major driver of epidemiological fitness in caliciviruses.

The diversity of lagoviruses () in Australia has increased considerably in recent years. By the end of 2017, five variants from three viral genotypes were present in populations of Australian rabbits, while prior to 2014 only two variants were known. To understand the evolutionary interactions among these lagovirus variants, we monitored their geographical distribution and relative incidence over time in a continental-scale competition study.

Calicivirus Non-structural Proteins: Potential Functions in Replication and Host Cell Manipulation.

The are a family of viruses with a single-stranded, non-segmented RNA genome of positive polarity. The ongoing discovery of caliciviruses has increased the number of genera in this family to 11 (, , , , , , , , , , and ). Caliciviruses infect a wide range of hosts that include fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and marine and land mammals.

Culture and differentiation of rabbit intestinal organoids and organoid-derived cell monolayers.

Organoids emulate many aspects of their parental tissue and are therefore used to study pathogen-host interactions and other complex biological processes. Here, we report a robust protocol for the isolation, maintenance and differentiation of rabbit small intestinal organoids and organoid-derived cell monolayers. Our rabbit intestinal spheroid and monolayer cultures grew most efficiently in L-WRN-conditioned medium that contained Wnt, R-spondin and Noggin, and that had been supplemented with ROCK and TGF-β inhibitors.

Harnessing therapeutic viruses as a delivery vehicle for RNA-based therapy.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) and microRNA (miRNA)-based therapeutics have become attractive alternatives to DNA-based therapeutics due to recent advances in manufacture, scalability and cost. Also, RNA-based therapeutics are considered safe since there are no risk of inducing genomic changes as well as the potential adverse effects would be only temporary due to the transient nature of RNA-based therapeutics. However, efficient in vivo delivery of RNA-based therapeutics remains a challenge.

Calicivirus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerases: Evolution, Structure, Protein Dynamics, and Function.

The are viruses with a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome that is packaged into an icosahedral, environmentally stable protein capsid. The family contains five genera (, , , and ) that infect vertebrates including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) replicates the genome of RNA viruses and can speed up evolution due to its error-prone nature.

Characterization of Mutational Tolerance of a Viral RNA-Protein Interaction.

Replication of RNA viruses is generally markedly error-prone. Nevertheless, these viruses usually retain their identity under more or less constant conditions due to different mechanisms of mutation tolerance. However, there exists only limited information on quantitative aspects of the mutational tolerance of distinct viral functions.