Lyme disease, caused by some Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, is the most common tick-borne illness in the Northern Hemisphere and the number of cases, and geographic spread, continue to grow. Previously identified B. burgdorferi proteins, lipid immunogens, and live mutants lead the design of canonical vaccines aimed at disrupting infection in the host.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present the first complete genome sequence of Odocoileus hemionus deer adenovirus 1 (OdAdV-1). This virus can cause sporadic haemorrhagic disease in cervids, although epizootics with high mortality have occurred in California. OdAdV-1 has been placed in the genus Atadenovirus, based on partial hexon, pVIII and fibre genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAfrican swine fever virus (ASFV) produces a fatal acute hemorrhagic fever in domesticated pigs that potentially is a worldwide economic threat. Using an expressed sequence tag (EST) library-based antisense method of random gene inactivation and a phenotypic screen for limitation of ASFV replication in cultured human cells, we identified six host genes whose cellular functions are required by ASFV. These included three loci, BAT3 (HLA-B-associated transcript 3), C1qTNF (C1q and tumor necrosis factor-related protein 6), and TOM40 (translocase of outer mitochondrial membrane 40), for which antisense expression from a tetracycline-regulated promoter resulted in reversible inhibition of ASFV production by >99%.
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