Articles

Migratory birds, the H5N1 influenza virus and the scientific method

The role of migratory birds and of poultry trade in the dispersal of highly pathogenic H5N1 is still the topic of intense and controversial debate. In a recent contribution to this journal, Flint argues that t...

Authors: Thomas P Weber and Nikolaos I Stilianakis

Closing two doors of viral entry: Intramolecular combination of a coreceptor- and fusion inhibitor of HIV-1

We describe a novel strategy in which two inhibitors of HIV viral entry were incorporated into a single molecule. This bifunctional fusion inhibitor consists of an antibody blocking the binding of HIV to its c...

Authors: Erhard Kopetzki, Andreas Jekle, Changhua Ji, Eileen Rao, Jun Zhang, Stephan Fischer, Nick Cammack, Surya Sankuratri and Gabrielle Heilek

Genetic diversity and silencing suppression effects of Rice yellow mottle virus and the P1 protein

PTGS (post-transcriptional gene silencing) is used to counter pathogenic invasions, particularly viruses. In return, many plant viruses produce proteins which suppress silencing directed against their RNA. The...

Authors: Christelle Siré, Martine Bangratz-Reyser, Denis Fargette and Christophe Brugidou

Varicella-zoster virus ORF 58 gene is dispensable for viral replication in cell culture

Open reading frame 58 (ORF58) of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) lies at the 3'end of the Unique long (U_L) region and its functional is unknown. In order to clarify whether ORF58 is essential for the growth of VZV, ...

Authors: Hironori Yoshii, Kay Sadaoka, Masaaki Matsuura, Kazuhiro Nagaike, Michiaki Takahashi, Koichi Yamanishi and Yasuko Mori

Epidemiology of foot-and-mouth disease in Landhi Dairy Colony, Pakistan, the world largest Buffalo colony

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is endemic in Pakistan and causes huge economic losses. This work focus on the Landhi Dairy Colony (LDC), located in the suburbs of Karachi. LDC is the largest Buffalo colony in th...

Authors: Joern Klein, Manzoor Hussain, Munir Ahmad, Muhammad Afzal and Soren Alexandersen

Effect of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines in elderly persons in years of low influenza activity

The present prospective study was conducted from 2003–2005, among all individuals 65 years and older in Uppsala County, a region with 300 000 inhabitants situated close to the Stockholm urban area.

Authors: Brith Christenson, Karlis Pauksen and Staffan PE Sylvan

Use of a commercial enzyme immunoassay to monitor dengue virus replication in cultured cells

Current methods for dengue virus quantitation are either time consuming, technically demanding or costly. As an alternative, the commercial enzyme immunoassay Platelia™ Dengue NS1 AG (Bio-Rad Laboratories) was...

Authors: Juan E Ludert, Clemente Mosso, Ivonne Ceballos-Olvera and Rosa M del Angel

The herpesvirus 8 encoded chemokines vCCL2 (vMIP-II) and vCCL3 (vMIP-III) target the human but not the murine lymphotactin receptor

Large DNA-viruses such as herpesvirus and poxvirus encode proteins that target and exploit the chemokine system of their host. The Kaposi sarcoma- associated herpes virus (KSHV) encodes three chemokines. Two o...

Authors: Hans R Lüttichau

Changes in viral load and HBsAg and HBeAg status with age in HBV chronic carriers in The Gambia

Little is known about changes in hepatitis B viral load (HBV DNA) in relation to age in Africa. The aim of this study is to determine the natural course of HBV chronic infection, particularly in relation to se...

Authors: Maimuna E Mendy, Samuel J McConkey, Marianne AB Sande van der, Sarah Crozier, Steve Kaye, David Jeffries, Andrew J Hall and Hilton C Whittle

Bioinformatic analysis suggests that the Orbivirus VP6 cistron encodes an overlapping gene

The genus Orbivirus includes several species that infect livestock – including Bluetongue virus (BTV) and African horse sickness virus (AHSV). These viruses have linear dsRNA genomes divided into ten segments, al...

Authors: Andrew E Firth

Severe cytomegalovirus infection in apparently immunocompetent patients: a systematic review

The morbidity and mortality associated with cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in immunocompromised patients (especially in HIV-infected patients and transplant recipients), as well as with congenital CMV infecti...

Authors: Petros I Rafailidis, Eleni G Mourtzoukou, Ioannis C Varbobitis and Matthew E Falagas

Dissecting the role of putative CD81 binding regions of E2 in mediating HCV entry: Putative CD81 binding region 1 is not involved in CD81 binding

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) encodes two transmembrane glycoproteins E1 and E2 which form a heterodimer. E1 is believed to mediate fusion while E2 has been shown to bind cellular receptors including CD81. In this s...

Authors: Katharina B Rothwangl, Balaji Manicassamy, Susan L Uprichard and Lijun Rong

Therapeutic immunisation of rabbits with cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (CRPV) virus-like particles (VLP) induces regression of established papillomas

There is overwhelming evidence that persistent infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPV) is the main risk factor for invasive cancer of the cervix. Due to this global public health burden, two p...

Authors: Vandana A Govan, Edward P Rybicki and Anna-Lise Williamson

Antibody contributes to heterosubtypic protection against influenza A-induced tachypnea in cotton rats

Influenza virus infection or vaccination evokes an antibody response to viral hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) surface glycoproteins, which results in immunity against influenza A viruses of the same ...

Authors: Timothy M Straight, Martin G Ottolini, Gregory A Prince and Maryna C Eichelberger

HDAC inhibitors stimulate viral transcription by multiple mechanisms

The effects of histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) treatment on SV40 transcription and replication were determined by monitoring the levels of early and late expression, the extent of replication, and the pe...

Authors: Lata Balakrishnan and Barry Milavetz

Transient expression of homologous hairpin RNA interferes with PVY transmission by aphids

Hairpin RNAs have been used to confer resistance to viruses in plants through RNA silencing. However, it has not been demonstrated that RNA silencing was effective against inoculation by aphids of non-persiste...

Authors: Marisol Vargas, Belén Martínez-García, José Ramón Díaz-Ruíz and Francisco Tenllado

Drug 9AA reactivates p21/Waf1 and Inhibits HIV-1 progeny formation

It has been demonstrated that the p53 pathway plays an important role in HIV-1 infection. Previous work from our lab has established a model demonstrating how p53 could become inactivated in HIV-1 infected cel...

Authors: Weilin Wu, Kylene Kehn-Hall, Caitlin Pedati, Lynnsey Zweier, Iris Castro, Zachary Klase, Cynthia S Dowd, Larisa Dubrovsky, Michael Bukrinsky and Fatah Kashanchi

The evolution of human influenza A viruses from 1999 to 2006: A complete genome study

Knowledge about the complete genome constellation of seasonal influenza A viruses from different countries is valuable for monitoring and understanding of the evolution and migration of strains. Few complete g...

Authors: Karoline Bragstad, Lars P Nielsen and Anders Fomsgaard

Vaccinia virus lacking the deoxyuridine triphosphatase gene (F2L) replicates well in vitro and in vivo, but is hypersensitive to the antiviral drug (N)-methanocarbathymidine

The vaccinia virus (VV) F2L gene encodes a functional deoxyuridine triphosphatase (dUTPase) that catalyzes the conversion of dUTP to dUMP and is thought to minimize the incorporation of deoxyuridine residues i...

Authors: Mark N Prichard, Earl R Kern, Debra C Quenelle, Kathy A Keith, Richard W Moyer and Peter C Turner

Complications post renal transplantation: literature focus on BK virus nephropathy and diagnostic tools actually available

Clinical diagnosis of kidney transplants related illnesses is not a simple task. Several studies were conducted to define diseases and complications after renal transplantation, but there are no comprehensive ...

Authors: Monica Mischitelli, Anna Bellizzi, Elena Anzivino, Daniela Fioriti, Renzo Boldorini, Umberto Miglio, Fernanda Chiarini, Franco Di Monaco and Valeria Pietropaolo

An antigenic epitope of influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP) associated with polymeric forms of NP

Intracellular influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP) is characterized by a high efficiency of homo-polymers formation, however their antigenic structure is still incompletely known. Herein, we report that RNase-re...

Authors: Elena N Prokudina, Nataly Semenova, Valery Chumakov and Lothar Stitz

Infectious salmon anaemia virus replication and induction of alpha interferon in Atlantic salmon erythrocytes

Infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) virus (ISAV), which causes ISA in marine-farmed Atlantic salmon, is an orthomyxovirus belonging to the genus Isavirus, family Orthomyxoviridae. ISAV agglutinates erythrocytes of se...

Authors: Samuel T Workenhe, Molly JT Kibenge, Glenda M Wright, Dorota W Wadowska, David B Groman and Frederick SB Kibenge

Orthomyxo-, paramyxo- and flavivirus infections in wild waterfowl in Finland

Screening wild birds for viral pathogens has become increasingly important. We tested a screening approach based on blood and cloacal and tracheal swabs collected by hunters to study the prevalence of influenz...

Authors: Erika Lindh, Anita Huovilainen, Osmo Rätti, Christine Ek-Kommonen, Tarja Sironen, Eili Huhtamo, Hannu Pöysä, Antti Vaheri and Olli Vapalahti

Frag-Virus: a new term to distinguish presumptive viruses known primarily from sequence data

Authors: Alexander Voevodin and Preston A Marx

Chikungunya virus adapts to tiger mosquito via evolutionary convergence: a sign of things to come?

Since 2004, several million indigenous cases of Chikungunya virus disease occurred in Africa, the Indian Ocean, India, Asia and, recently, Europe. The virus, usually transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, has n...

Authors: Xavier de Lamballerie, Eric Leroy, Rémi N Charrel, Konstantin Ttsetsarkin, Stephen Higgs and Ernest A Gould

Mapping of immunogenic and protein-interacting regions at the surface of the seven-bladed β-propeller domain of the HIV-1 cellular interactor EED

The human EED protein, a member of the superfamily of Polycomb group proteins, is involved in multiple cellular protein complexes. Its C-terminal domain, which is common to the four EED isoforms, contains seven r...

Authors: Dina Rakotobe, Sébastien Violot, Saw See Hong, Patrice Gouet and Pierre Boulanger

Connective tissue metabolism in chikungunya patients

Chikungunya (CHIK) fever is a viral disease transmitted to humans by the bite of Chikungunya virus (CHIK virus) infected Aedes mosquitoes. CHIK virus is a member of the Alphavirus genus of the family Togaviridae....

Authors: Sudarsanareddy Lokireddy, Sarojamma Vemula and Ramakrishna Vadde

The first hydrophobic region of the HPV16 E5 protein determines protein cellular location and facilitates anchorage-independent growth

The human papillomavirus type 16 E5 protein (HPV16 E5) is 83 amino acids in length and contains three well-defined hydrophobic regions. The protein is expressed at very limited amounts in transfected cells and...

Authors: Caroline Lewis, Marta F Baro, Margarita Marques, Myriam Grüner, Angel Alonso and Ignacio G Bravo

On the epidemiology of influenza

The epidemiology of influenza swarms with incongruities, incongruities exhaustively detailed by the late British epidemiologist, Edgar Hope-Simpson. He was the first to propose a parsimonious theory explaining...

Authors: John J Cannell, Michael Zasloff, Cedric F Garland, Robert Scragg and Edward Giovannucci

Proteomics computational analyses suggest that baculovirus GP64 superfamily proteins are class III penetrenes

Members of the Baculoviridae encode two types of proteins that mediate virus:cell membrane fusion and penetration into the host cell. Alignments of primary amino acid sequences indicate that baculovirus fusion pr...

Authors: Courtney E Garry and Robert F Garry

Constancy and diversity in the flavivirus fusion peptide

Flaviviruses include the mosquito-borne dengue, Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever and West Nile and the tick-borne encephalitis viruses. They are responsible for considerable world-wide morbidity and mortali...

Authors: Stephen J Seligman

Identification of a contemporary human parechovirus type 1 by VIDISCA and characterisation of its full genome

Enteritis is caused by a spectrum of viruses that is most likely not fully characterised. When testing stool samples by cell culture, virus isolates are sometimes obtained which cannot be typed by current meth...

Authors: Luciano Kleber de Souza Luna, Sigrid Baumgarte, Klaus Grywna, Marcus Panning, Jan Felix Drexler and Christian Drosten

La Crosse virus infectivity, pathogenesis, and immunogenicity in mice and monkeys

La Crosse virus (LACV), family Bunyaviridae, was first identified as a human pathogen in 1960 after its isolation from a 4 year-old girl with fatal encephalitis in La Crosse, Wisconsin. LACV is a major cause o...

Authors: Richard S Bennett, Christina M Cress, Jerrold M Ward, Cai-Yen Firestone, Brian R Murphy and Stephen S Whitehead

Hepatitis C virus NS5A protein binds the SH3 domain of the Fyn tyrosine kinase with high affinity: mutagenic analysis of residues within the SH3 domain that contribute to the interaction

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) non-structural 5A protein (NS5A) contains a highly conserved C-terminal polyproline motif with the consensus sequence Pro-X-X-Pro-X-Arg that is able to interact with the Src-homolog...

Authors: Holly Shelton and Mark Harris

Differential control of CXCR4 and CD4 downregulation by HIV-1 Gag

The ESCRT (endosomal sorting complex required for transport) machinery functions to sort cellular receptors into the lumen of the multivesicular body (MVB) prior to lysosomal degradation. ESCRT components can ...

Authors: Rajeshwari R Valiathan and Marilyn D Resh

Wild type measles virus attenuation independent of type I IFN

Measles virus attenuation has been historically performed by adaptation to cell culture. The current dogma is that attenuated virus strains induce more type I IFN and are more resistant to IFN-induced protecti...

Authors: Johan Druelle, Caroline I Sellin, Diane Waku-Kouomou, Branka Horvat and Fabian T Wild

Recombinant norovirus-specific scFv inhibit virus-like particle binding to cellular ligands

Noroviruses cause epidemic outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness in all age-groups. The rapid onset and ease of person-to-person transmission suggest that inhibitors of the initial steps of virus binding to su...

Authors: Khalil Ettayebi and Michele E Hardy

Development and evaluation of one step single tube multiplex RT-PCR for rapid detection and typing of dengue viruses

Dengue is emerging as a major public health concern in many parts of the world. The development of a one-step, single tube, rapid, and multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (M-RT-PCR) for s...

Authors: Parag Saxena, Paban Kumar Dash, SR Santhosh, Ambuj Shrivastava, Manmohan Parida and PV Lakshmana Rao

Self-excision of the BAC sequences from the recombinant Marek's disease virus genome increases replication and pathogenicity

Cloning of full length genomes of herpesviruses as bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) has greatly facilitated the manipulation of the genomes of several herpesviruses to identify the pathogenic determinant...

Authors: Yuguang Zhao, Lawrence Petherbridge, Lorraine P Smith, Sue Baigent and Venugopal Nair

The biennial cycle of respiratory syncytial virus outbreaks in Croatia

The paper analyses the epidemic pattern of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreaks in children in Croatia. Over a period of 11 consecutive winter seasons (1994–2005) 3,435 inpatients from Zagreb County age...

Authors: Gordana Mlinaric-Galinovic, Robert C Welliver, Tatjana Vilibic-Cavlek, Suncanica Ljubin-Sternak, Vladimir Drazenovic, Ivana Galinovic and Vlatka Tomic

Human adenovirus type 19 infection of corneal cells induces p38 MAPK-dependent interleukin-8 expression

Human adenovirus type 19 (HAdV-19) is a major cause of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis, the only ocular adenoviral infection associated with prolonged corneal inflammation. In this study, we investigated the rol...

Authors: Jaya Rajaiya, Jingnan Xiao, Raju VS Rajala and James Chodosh

Universal primers that amplify RNA from all three flavivirus subgroups

Species within the Flavivirus genus pose public health problems around the world. Increasing cases of Dengue and Japanese encephalitis virus in Asia, frequent outbreaks of Yellow fever virus in Africa and South A...

Authors: Sheryl L Maher-Sturgess, Naomi L Forrester, Paul J Wayper, Ernest A Gould, Roy A Hall, Ross T Barnard and Mark J Gibbs

Avian influenza: genetic evolution under vaccination pressure

Antigenic drift of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) has been observed in chickens after extended vaccination program, similar to those observed with human influenza viruses. To evaluate the evolutionary properti...

Authors: Magdalena Escorcia, Lourdes Vázquez, Sara T Méndez, Andrea Rodríguez-Ropón, Eduardo Lucio and Gerardo M Nava

HIV-1 gp120 N-linked glycosylation differs between plasma and leukocyte compartments

N-linked glycosylation is a major mechanism for minimizing virus neutralizing antibody response and is present on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) envelope glycoprotein. Although it is known that glycosy...

Authors: Yung Shwen Ho, Ana B Abecasis, Kristof Theys, Koen Deforche, Dominic E Dwyer, Michael Charleston, Anne Mieke Vandamme and Nitin K Saksena

Characterization of an Egyptian Spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus and a possible use of a highly conserved region from polyhedrin gene for nucleopolyhedrovirus detection

An Egyptian isolate of Spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus (Spli NPV) was tested for its potential as biocontrol agent in comparison to Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (Ac MNPV). Compa...

Authors: AlaaEddeen M Seufi

Marine mimivirus relatives are probably large algal viruses

Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus is the largest known ds-DNA virus and its 1.2 Mb-genome sequence has revealed many unique features. Mimivirus occupies an independent lineage among eukaryotic viruses and its know...

Authors: Adam Monier, Jens Borggaard Larsen, Ruth-Anne Sandaa, Gunnar Bratbak, Jean-Michel Claverie and Hiroyuki Ogata

Evidence that the Nijmegen breakage syndrome protein, an early sensor of double-strand DNA breaks (DSB), is involved in HIV-1 post-integration repair by recruiting the ataxia telangiectasia-mutated kinase in a process similar to, but distinct from, cellular DSB repair

Retroviral transduction involves integrase-dependent linkage of viral and host DNA that leaves an intermediate that requires post-integration repair (PIR). We and others proposed that PIR hijacks the host cell...

Authors: Johanna A Smith, Feng-Xiang Wang, Hui Zhang, Kou-Juey Wu, Kevin Jon Williams and René Daniel

The use of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase for the taxonomic assignment of Picorna-like viruses (order Picornavirales) infecting Apis mellifera L. populations

Single-stranded RNA viruses, infectious to the European honeybee, Apis mellifera L. are known to reside at low levels in colonies, with typically no apparent signs of infection observed in the honeybees. Reverse ...

Authors: Andrea C Baker and Declan C Schroeder

Genetic variation and recombination of RdRp and HSP 70h genes of Citrus tristeza virus isolates from orange trees showing symptoms of citrus sudden death disease

Citrus sudden death (CSD), a disease that rapidly kills orange trees, is an emerging threat to the Brazilian citrus industry. Although the causal agent of CSD has not been definitively determined, based on the...

Authors: Clarissa PC Gomes, Tatsuya Nagata, Waldir C de Jesus Jr, Carlos R Borges Neto, Georgios J Pappas Jr and Darren P Martin

Sargassum fusiformefraction is a potent and specific inhibitor of HIV-1 fusion and reverse transcriptase

Sargassum fusiforme (Harvey) Setchell has been shown to be a highly effective inhibitor of HIV-1 infection. To identify its mechanism of action, we performed bioactivity-guided fractionation on Sargassum fusiform...

Authors: Elena E Paskaleva, Xudong Lin, Karen Duus, James J McSharry, Jean-Claude L Veille, Carol Thornber, Yanze Liu, David Yu-Wei Lee and Mario Canki