Cells must adapt to environmental changes to maintain homeostasis. One of the most striking environmental adaptations is entry into hibernation during which core body temperature can decrease from 37°C to as low at 4°C. How mammalian cells, which evolved to optimally function within a narrow range of temperatures, adapt to this profound decrease in temperature remains poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHerpes stromal keratitis is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the western world. Infection by HSV1 is most common, but VZV and hCMV also infect the cornea. Multiple models of HSV1 corneal infection exist, but none for VZV and hCMV because of their host specificity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBat-borne viruses have attracted considerable research, especially in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although bats can carry multiple zoonotic viruses that are lethal to many mammalian species, they appear to be asymptomatic to viral infection despite the high viral loads contained in their bodies. There are several differences between bats and other mammals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCOVID-19 has impacted billions of people since 2019 and unfolded a major healthcare crisis. With an increasing number of deaths and the emergence of more transmissible variants, it is crucial to better understand the biology of the disease-causing virus, the SARS-CoV-2. Peripheral neuropathies appeared as a specific COVID-19 symptom occurring at later stages of the disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSARS-CoV-2 sequences can be reverse-transcribed and integrated into the genomes of virus-infected cells by a LINE1-mediated retrotransposition mechanism. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) methods detected retrotransposed SARS-CoV-2 subgenomic sequences in virus-infected cells overexpressing LINE1, while an enrichment method (TagMap) identified retrotranspositions in cells that did not overexpress LINE1. LINE1 overexpression increased retrotranspositions about 1,000-fold as compared to non-overexpressing cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSARS-CoV-2 sequences can be reverse-transcribed and integrated into the genomes of virus-infected cells by a LINE1-mediated retrotransposition mechanism. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) methods detected retrotransposed SARS-CoV-2 subgenomic sequences in virus-infected cells overexpressing LINE1, while an enrichment method (TagMap) identified retrotranspositions in cells that did not overexpress LINE1. LINE1 overexpression increased retrotranspositions about 1000-fold as compared to non-overexpressing cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCOVID-19 has impacted billions of people in the world since 2019 and unfolded a major healthcare crisis. With an increasing number of deaths and the emergence of more transmissible variants, it is crucial to better understand the biology of the disease-causing virus, the SARS-CoV-2. Peripheral neuropathies appeared as a specific COVID-19 symptom occurring at later stages of the disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLocked-nucleotide analog antagonists (LNAA) to four varicella zoster virus small non-coding RNA (VZVsncRNA 10-13) derived from the mRNA of the open reading frame (ORF) 61 gene individually reduce VZV replication in epithelial cells and fibroblasts. To study the potential roles VZVsncRNA 10-13 have in neuronal infection we generated two recombinant VZV; one in which 8 nucleotides were changed in VZVsncRNA10 without altering the encoded residues of ORF61 (VZVsnc10MUT) and a second containing a 12-nucleotide deletion of the sequence common to VZVsncRNA12 and 13, located in the ORF61 mRNA leader sequence (VZVsnc12-13DEL). Both were developed from a VZV BAC with a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter fused to the N terminal of the capsid protein encoded by ORF23.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHerpes zoster (HZ) remains a significant health burden with millions of cases in North America and Europe annually. HZ is frequently followed by long-term pain or post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). Although effective vaccines for HZ are available, currently used nucleotide analogues often have limited effectiveness against HZ and especially PHN, so there remains a need for additional antiviral therapies for HZ.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall noncoding RNAs (sncRNA), including microRNA (miR), are expressed by many viruses to provide an additional layer of gene expression regulation. Our work has shown that varicella-zoster virus (VZV; also called human herpesvirus 3 [HHV3]), the human alphaherpesvirus causing varicella and herpes zoster, expresses 24 virally encoded sncRNA (VZVsncRNA) in infected cells. Here, we demonstrate that several VZVsncRNA can modulate VZV growth, including four VZVsncRNA (VZVsncRNA10, -11, -12, and -13) that are antisense to VLT, a transcript made in lytic infections and associated with VZV latency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost herpesviruses use both host and viral small non-coding RNAs (sncRNA), especially microRNA, to modulate infection. Bioinformatic analyses of NGS data obtained from Varicella Zoster virus (VZV)-infected cells predicted 24 VZVsncRNA, seven of which were confirmed to be expressed in infected fibroblasts and neurons using stem-loop quantitative reverse transcription PCR (SL-PCR). We here assayed for the expression of all 24 of the bioinformatically predicted VZVsncRNA in cells productively infected by VZV using SL-PCR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe complete nucleotide sequence of a new lineage of foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype O was determined. The lineage designated as Ind2011 first appeared during 2011 in the Southern region of India. Excluding the poly C tract and poly A tail, the genome of Ind2011 ranged from 8,169 to 8,172 nucleotides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImmobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) allows for the efficient protein purification via metal affinity tag such as hexa-histidine (His6) sequence. To develop a new chromatography strategy for the purification and concentration of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) particles, we inserted the His6-tag at the earlier reported site in the VP1 G-H loop of the FMD virus serotype O vaccine strain IND R2/1975. Display of the His6-tag on the capsid surface, endowed the virus with an increased affinity for immobilized nickel ions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFoot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious epidemic disease of transboundary importance. In India, the disease is endemic in nature and is controlled primarily by prophylactic bi-annual mass vaccination. In this control programme, liquid-phase blocking ELISA (LPBE) is being used widely for post vaccination seromonitoring.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFField outbreak strains of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) infect host cells through certain Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) dependent integrin family of cellular receptors. In contrast, FMDV adapted in non-host cell cultures are reported to acquire the ability to infect cells via heparin sulphate (HS) or other unidentified cell surface molecules. It has been reported that during the serial passage of FMDV serotype A in BHK-21 cell culture, VP2 E131K (E2131K) substitution was fixed within the heparin sulphate binding site.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFoot and mouth disease (FMD) is an economically important disease and a whole-virus inactivated trivalent virus vaccine is the mainstay for controlling the disease in India. The protective humoral immune response to FMD vaccination is a complex, but, tightly regulated process mediated by the interplay of interleukins (IL). Based on the specific role of IL6 and 21 in adaptive immune response, we hypothesized that inactivated trivalent FMD vaccine would stimulate IL6 and 21 expression in the circulating lymphocytes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFoot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of transboundary importance. In India, since the launch of the FMD control programme, there has been a substantial increase in the vaccinated bovine population. In this scenario, there is a need for additional locally developed non-structural protein (NSP)-based immnoassays for efficient identification of FMD virus (FMDV)-infected animals in the vaccinated population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, an RNA transfection was used to rescue infectious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus from clinical samples in BHK-21 cell line for diagnosis of FMD. Tissue samples (n=190) were subjected to FMD virus isolation by conventional cell culture and also by RNA transfection. FMD virus was isolated from 62% of the clinical samples by RNA transfection, whereas virus was isolated only from 16% of the clinical samples in conventional cell culture method, suggesting better performance of the RNA transfection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn India, emergence of Ind2001 lineage of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype O was recorded in the year 2001. After causing sporadic incidences, the Ind2001 lineage that re-surged in 2008 out-competed PanAsia from the field during 2009 and continued its dominance during 2010 and 2011 as well. The lineage has diversified in due course of time, leading to two sub-lineages (Ind2001a and Ind2001b).
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