Overexpression of Calretinin Enhances Short-Term Synaptic Depression.

Analysis of the effects of various proteins on short-term synaptic plasticity is a difficult task, which may require the use of knockout animals. Here, we propose an alternative experimental approach for studying the roles of desired proteins in synaptic plasticity. We packed the Ca-binding protein calretinin and the fluorescent protein Venus into AAV and injected the concentrated viral suspension into the neocortex of newborn rats.

Sindbis virus with a tricomponent genome.

We established a system for propagation of Sindbis virus (SIN)-based replicons in tissue culture in the form of a tricomponent genome virus. Three RNA fragments containing complementing genetic information required for virus replication are packaged into separate viral particles, and each cell produces at least 1,000 packaged replicons and the number of packaged helpers sufficient to perform the next passage. This system can be used to generate large stocks of packaged replicons.