Optimized Protocols for the Propagation and Quantification of Infectious Murine Hepatitis Virus (MHV-A59) Using NCTC Clone 1469 and 929 Cells.

Murine hepatitis virus (MHV) is a non-human pathogen betacoronavirus that is evolutionarily and structurally related to the human pathogenic viruses SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2. However, unlike the human SARS and MERS viruses, MHV requires a biosafety level 2 laboratory for propagating and safe handling, making it a potentially suitable surrogate virus. Despite this utility, few papers discussed the propagation and quantification of MHV using cell lines readily available in biorepositories making their implementations not easily reproducible.

In Vivo Chemical Genomics with Random Cyclized Peptides.

We have developed and applied a novel strategy that can best be described as in vivo chemical genomics, a concept where populations of any transformable organism may be screened for consequences of novel RNAs or peptides. We created a library of ~800,000 random DNA sequences biased only by third-position nucleotide substitutions that suppress the frequency of termination codons. The sequences may be shuttled to any plant, microbial, or animal expression vector with recombination cloning.

A synthetic peptide encoded by a random DNA sequence inhibits discrete red light responses.

We have identified a synthetic peptide that interrupts discrete aspects of seedling development under red light. Previous reports have demonstrated that plants transformed with random DNA sequences produce synthetic peptides that affect plant biology. In this report, one specific peptide is characterized that inhibits discrete aspects of red light-mediated photomorphogenic development in  .

Characterization of new transposable element sub-families from white clover (Trifolium repens) using PCR amplification.

Transposable elements (TEs) dominate the landscapes of most plant and animal genomes. Once considered junk DNA and genetic parasites, these interspersed, repetitive DNA elements are now known to play major roles in both genetic and epigenetic processes that sponsor genome variation and regulate gene expression. Knowledge of TE consensus sequences from elements in species whose genomes have not been sequenced is limited, and the individual TEs that are encountered in clones or short-reads rarely represent potentially canonical, let alone, functional representatives.