GALV-KoRV-related retroviruses in diverse Australian and African rodent species.

The enigmatic origins and transmission events of the gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) and its close relative the koala retrovirus (KoRV) have been a source of enduring debate. Bats and rodents are each proposed as major reservoirs of interspecies transmission, with ongoing efforts to identify additional animal hosts of GALV-KoRV-related retroviruses. In this study, we identified nine rodent species as novel hosts of GALV-KoRV-related retroviruses.

Unique Evolution of Antiviral Tetherin in Bats.

Bats are recognized as important reservoirs of viruses deadly to other mammals, including humans. These infections are typically nonpathogenic in bats, raising questions about host response differences that might exist between bats and other mammals. Tetherin is a restriction factor which inhibits the release of a diverse range of viruses from host cells, including retroviruses, coronaviruses, filoviruses, and paramyxoviruses, some of which are deadly to humans and transmitted by bats.

Lactic acid from vaginal microbiota enhances cervicovaginal epithelial barrier integrity by promoting tight junction protein expression.

Background: Women with a cervicovaginal microbiota dominated by Lactobacillus spp. are at reduced risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections including HIV, but the biological mechanisms involved remain poorly defined. Here, we performed metaproteomics on vaginal swab samples from young South African women (n = 113) and transcriptomics analysis of cervicovaginal epithelial cell cultures to examine the ability of lactic acid, a metabolite produced by cervicovaginal lactobacilli, to modulate genital epithelial barrier function.

Retroviruses of Bats: a Threat Waiting in the Wings?

Bats are infamous reservoirs of deadly human viruses. While retroviruses, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are among the most significant of virus families that have jumped from animals into humans, whether bat retroviruses have the potential to infect and cause disease in humans remains unknown. Recent reports of retroviruses circulating in bat populations builds on two decades of research describing the fossil records of retroviral sequences in bat genomes and of viral metagenomes extracted from bat samples.

HERV-K Gag RNA and Protein Levels Are Elevated in Malignant Regions of the Prostate in Males with Prostate Cancer.

Heightened expression of human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) sequences has been associated with a range of malignancies, including prostate cancer, suggesting that they may serve as useful diagnostic or prognostic cancer biomarkers. We analysed the expression of HERV-K (Gag and Env/Np9 regions), HERV-E 4.1 (Pol and Env regions), HERV-H (Pol) and HERV-W (Gag) sequences in prostate cancer cells lines and normal prostate epithelial cells using qRT-PCR.

Tenth Scientific Biennial Meeting of the Australasian Virology Society-AVS10 2019.

The Australasian Virology Society (AVS) aims to promote, support and advocate for the discipline of virology in the Australasian region. The society was incorporated in 2011 after 10 years operating as the Australian Virology Group (AVG) founded in 2001, coinciding with the inaugural biennial scientific meeting. AVS conferences aim to provide a forum for the dissemination of all aspects of virology, foster collaboration, and encourage participation by students and post-doctoral researchers.

Infectious KoRV-related retroviruses circulating in Australian bats.

Bats are reservoirs of emerging viruses that are highly pathogenic to other mammals, including humans. Despite the diversity and abundance of bat viruses, to date they have not been shown to harbor exogenous retroviruses. Here we report the discovery and characterization of a group of koala retrovirus-related (KoRV-related) gammaretroviruses in Australian and Asian bats.

Distinct Immune Responses Elicited From Cervicovaginal Epithelial Cells by Lactic Acid and Short Chain Fatty Acids Associated With Optimal and Non-optimal Vaginal Microbiota.

Non-optimal vaginal microbiota, as observed in bacterial vaginosis (BV), is typically characterized by a depletion of beneficial lactobacilli and an abundance of numerous anaerobes. These non-optimal conditions are associated with subclinical cervicovaginal inflammation and an increased risk of HIV infection compared to women colonized with optimal vaginal microbiota dominated by lactobacilli. Lactic acid (LA) is a major organic acid metabolite produced by vaginal lactobacilli that elicits anti-inflammatory effects from cervicovaginal epithelial cells and is dramatically depleted during BV.

Designing Virtual Reality Assisted Psychotherapy for Anxiety in Older Adults Living with Parkinson's Disease: Integrating Literature for Scoping.

: This review integrates literature to discuss the potential use of virtual reality (VR) in treatment of anxiety in Parkinson's disease (PD) and inform next steps.: A systematic search was performed to identify studies of VR use in PD, using four databases. Data were reported in accordance to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyzes extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR).

Host and Viral Proteins Modulating Ebola and Marburg Virus Egress.

The filoviruses and are among the deadliest viral pathogens known to infect humans, causing emerging diseases with fatality rates of up to 90% during some outbreaks. The replication cycles of these viruses are comprised of numerous complex molecular processes and interactions with their human host, with one key feature being the means by which nascent virions exit host cells to spread to new cells and ultimately to a new host. This review focuses on our current knowledge of filovirus egress and the viral and host factors and processes that are involved.

Anti-HIV-1 Activity of Lactic Acid in Human Cervicovaginal Fluid.

Women of reproductive age with a dominated vaginal microbiota have a reduced risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV and a vaginal pH of ~4 due to the presence of ~1% (wt/vol) lactic acid. While lactic acid has potent HIV virucidal activity , whether lactic acid present in the vaginal lumen inactivates HIV has not been investigated. Here we evaluated the anti-HIV-1 activity of native, minimally diluted cervicovaginal fluid obtained from women of reproductive age ( = 20) with vaginal microbiota dominated by spp.

Differential Evolution of Antiretroviral Restriction Factors in Pteropid Bats as Revealed by APOBEC3 Gene Complexity.

Bats have attracted attention in recent years as important reservoirs of viruses deadly to humans and other mammals. These infections are typically nonpathogenic in bats raising questions about innate immune differences that might exist between bats and other mammals. The APOBEC3 gene family encodes antiviral DNA cytosine deaminases with important roles in the suppression of diverse viruses and genomic parasites.

Increasing prevalence of K65K and K66K in HIV-1 subtype B reverse transcriptase.

Objective: Synonymous substitutions K65K/K66K in HIV-1 reverse transcriptase alleviate fitness and fidelity defects in HIV-1 molecular clones harboring thymidine analogue mutations (TAMs); however, their potential for transmission and persistence is unknown. Here, we investigated the temporal appearance of K65K/K66K relative to TAMs in a HIV-1 cohort, their prevalence over time, and their impact on viral fitness in the context of patient-derived reverse transcriptase sequences.

Methods: Retrospective analyses of the temporal appearance and longitudinal prevalence of synonymous substitutions and drug resistance mutations were performed using the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Drug Treatment Program (DTP) database.

Identification of diverse full-length endogenous betaretroviruses in megabats and microbats.

Background: Betaretroviruses infect a wide range of species including primates, rodents, ruminants, and marsupials. They exist in both endogenous and exogenous forms and are implicated in animal diseases such as lung cancer in sheep, and in human disease, with members of the human endogenous retrovirus-K (HERV-K) group of endogenous betaretroviruses (βERVs) associated with human cancers and autoimmune diseases. To improve our understanding of betaretroviruses in an evolutionarily distinct host species, we characterized βERVs present in the genomes and transcriptomes of mega- and microbats, which are an important reservoir of emerging viruses.