Virology-the path forward.

In the United States (US), biosafety and biosecurity oversight of research on viruses is being reappraised. Safety in virology research is paramount and oversight frameworks should be reviewed periodically. Changes should be made with care, however, to avoid impeding science that is essential for rapidly reducing and responding to pandemic threats as well as addressing more common challenges caused by infectious diseases.

Techniques for Characterizing Cytomegalovirus-Encoded miRNAs.

microRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level by binding to sites within the 3' untranslated regions of messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts. The discovery of this completely new mechanism of gene regulation necessitated the development of a variety of techniques to further characterize miRNAs, their expression, and function. In this chapter, we will discuss techniques currently used in the miRNA field to detect, express and inhibit miRNAs, as well as methods used to identify and validate their targets, specifically with respect to the miRNAs encoded by human cytomegalovirus.

Human Cytomegalovirus Immediate Early 86-kDa Protein Blocks Transcription and Induces Degradation of the Immature Interleukin-1β Protein during Virion-Mediated Activation of the AIM2 Inflammasome.

Secretion of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) represents a fundamental innate immune response to microbial infection that, at the molecular level, occurs following activation of proteolytic caspases that cleave the immature protein into a secretable form. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the archetypal betaherpesvirus that is invariably capable of lifelong infection through the activity of numerous virally encoded immune evasion phenotypes. Innate immune pathways responsive to cytoplasmic double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) are known to be activated in response to contact between HCMV and host cells.

Human Cytomegalovirus Encodes a Novel FLT3 Receptor Ligand Necessary for Hematopoietic Cell Differentiation and Viral Reactivation.

The ability of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) to reactivate from latent infection of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) is intimately linked to cellular differentiation. HCMV encodes UL7 that our group has shown is secreted from infected cells and induces angiogenesis. In this study, we show that UL7 is a ligand for Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 receptor (Flt-3R), a well-known critical factor in HPC differentiation.