Virology Commons^™

A Deterministic Model For Understanding Nonlinear Viral Dynamics In Oysters, Qubin Qin, Jian Shen, Kimberly S. Reece

VIMS Articles

Contamination of oysters with a variety of viruses is one key pathway to trigger outbreaks of massive oyster mortality as well as human illnesses, including gastroenteritis and hepatitis. Much effort has gone into examining the fate of viruses in contaminated oysters, yet the current state of knowledge of nonlinear virus-oyster interactions is not comprehensive because most studies have focused on a limited number of processes under a narrow range of experimental conditions. A framework is needed for describing the complex nonlinear virus-oyster interactions. Here, we introduce a mathematical model that includes key processes for viral dynamics in oysters, such as …

Proteomic Analysis Of Mycobacteriophage Crimd, William Moeller

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Bacteriophages represent a large portion of the biomatter on our planet, and many of them have yet to be fully characterized. Here we discuss the proteomic analysis of a particular Bacteriophage, Mycobacteriophage CrimD. This phage was discovered on the Campus of William & Mary and has had its genome characterized. We took the next logical step of proteomic analysis.

In our analyses we made use high pressure liquid chromatography paired with linear ion trap mass spectrometry to analyze the proteome of CrimD at specific time points after the infection of its host, Mycobacterium smegmatis. Additionally, we used nanospray ionization with …

Mysteries And Uncertainties In Tracing Cryptic Viral Infections, Melaina Jacoby

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth. Viral impacts are evident from the level of individual cells and population all the way up to ecosystems and global elemental cycles. Since bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) were first identified in the early twentieth century, the study of these fascinating entities has shown how viral dynamics within ecosystems can influence microbially-mediated processes at a large scale. Viral infections can impact hosts and host-mediated processes in in multiple ways, one of which is through cryptic infections. This state, in which a bacterium may harbor a cryptic phage infection, is known as …

Virus Shedding Kinetics And Unconventional Virulence Tradeoffs, Andrew R. Wargo, Gael Kurath, Robert J. Scott, Benjamin Kerr

VIMS Articles

Tradeoff theory, which postulates that virulence provides both transmission costs and benefits for pathogens, has become widely adopted by the scientific community. Although theoretical literature exploring virulence-tradeoffs is vast, empirical studies validating various assumptions still remain sparse. In particular, truncation of transmission duration as a cost of virulence has been difficult to quantify with robust controlled in vivo studies. We sought to fill this knowledge gap by investigating how transmission rate and duration were associated with virulence for infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Using host mortality to quantify virulence and viral shedding to …

Detection And Infectivity Of Human Adenovirus In Wastewater Effluent, Biosolids, And Shellfish, And Its Persistence In Estuarine Water, Wenda Lee Quidort

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has established the Total Coliform Rule as an indication of health risks associated with microbial contamination of drinking and ground water. In addition, the fecal coliform test is used as an indicator to reflect the suitability of use by consumers of class A biosolids. However, numerous studies have shown that bacterial indicators are not predictive of enteric viruses, such as human adenovirus (HAdV), which are much more resistant to treatment methods than bacteria. Enteric viral contamination of estuarine waters and locally-harvested shellfish as a result of receiving effluent from wastewater treatment plants, as …

Transmission Of Panulirus Argus Virus 1 (Pav1) And Its Effect On The Survival Of Juvenile Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Mark J. Butler, Donald C. Behringer, Jeffrey D. Shields

VIMS Articles

The Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus, an important fisheries species, is host to Panulirus argus virus 1 (PaV1), a lethal, unclassified virus—the first found in any species of lobster— prevalent in juvenile lobsters. We describe a series of laboratory experiments aimed at assessing the likely modes of disease transmission, determining the survival of lobsters relative to each transmission pathway and identifying potential alternate hosts. Given evidence for lower prevalence of PaV1 in large lobsters, the effect of lobster size on susceptibility was also examined. Results demonstrated that PaV1 can be transmitted to juvenile lobsters via inoculation, ingestion of diseased tissue, …

An Evaluation Of Norovirus Persistence In Estuarine Water And Of Methods For Its Detection In Treated Sewage Effluent, Margaret H. Fagan

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Infection Dynamics Of Pav1 In The Caribbean Spiny Lobster Panulirus Argus, Caiwen Li

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Panulirus argus Virus 1 (PaV1) is an emerging disease in Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus. It is considered a threat to the lobster industry in the Florida Keys. In order to understand the infection dynamics of the PaV1 virus in the lobster host, a sensitive and specific fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay was developed for diagnosis of PaV1 in lobsters. The lower limit of detection using the 110-bp DNA probe in a dot-blot hybridization for PaV1 was 10 pg of cloned DNA template and 10 ng of genomic DNA extracted from hemolymph of diseased spiny lobster. The probe specifically …

Frna Coliphages As A Viral Indicator Of Sewage Pollution In An Estuary, David Miller Boyd

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.