A Novel Shiga Toxin 1a-Converting Bacteriophage of Shigella sonnei With Close Relationship to Shiga Toxin 2-Converting Pages of Escherichia coli.

In recent studies, strains of non-dysenteriae 1 Shigella (NDS) expressing Shiga toxin have been reported. In this study, we report a novel stx1a-converting bacteriophage of Shigella sonnei associated with travel to Mexico. Phylogenetic comparison between this and other stx-converting phages suggests that toxigenic NDS strains have arisen through separate horizontal transfer events from toxigenic Escherichia coli.

Hepatitis C virus triggers mitochondrial fission and attenuates apoptosis to promote viral persistence.

Mitochondrial dynamics is crucial for the regulation of cell homeostasis. Our recent findings suggest that hepatitis C virus (HCV) promotes Parkin-mediated elimination of damaged mitochondria (mitophagy). Here we show that HCV perturbs mitochondrial dynamics by promoting mitochondrial fission followed by mitophagy, which attenuates HCV-induced apoptosis.

Control of translation by the 5'- and 3'-terminal regions of the dengue virus genome.

The genomic RNAs of flaviviruses such as dengue virus (DEN) have a 5' m7GpppN cap like those of cellular mRNAs but lack a 3' poly(A) tail. We have studied the contributions to translational expression of 5'- and 3'-terminal regions of the DEN serotype 2 genome by using luciferase reporter mRNAs transfected into Vero cells. DCLD RNA contained the entire DEN 5' and 3' untranslated regions (UTRs), as well as the first 36 codons of the capsid coding region fused to the luciferase reporter gene.

Specificity analysis of the conserved hexanucleotides for the replication of bamboo mosaic potexvirus RNA.

In order to investigate the possible function of the potexviral conserved hexanucleotide sequence (ACc/uUAA) found in the 3' untranslated region of bamboo mosaic potexvirus (BaMV) genomic RNA, each nucleotide in the hexamer motif was substituted. Transcripts derived from wild-type and mutants with a loop deletion or a single-nucleotide substitution were inoculated into protoplasts. The accumulation levels of viral coat protein and RNAs detected from Western and Northern blots of each inoculation were examined after a 48-h incubation.