Organisms Commons^™

Assessment Of The Zoonotic Potential Of A Novel Bovine Influenza Virus, Laura Evelyn Eckard

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

A novel orthomyxovirus was recently identified from pigs, with subsequent work suggesting the natural reservoir being bovine populations. The virus had genome characteristics most similar to influenza C viruses (ICV) but, due to the extent of sequence divergence, was proposed as a new genus, influenza D virus (IDV). Current literature on IDV has largely focused on the agricultural significance of the virus and provided evidence for the agricultural impact via observation of widespread prevalence and pathology in laboratory infected cattle. However, only one study, which identified 1.3% seroprevalence in a small cohort, has addressed the zoonotic potential of IDV to …

Contribution Of The Membrane-Proximal Region Of The Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Glycoprotein To Host Cell Entry And Membrane Fusion, Elizabeth Lane Matheny

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is an enveloped, nonsegmented, negative-sense, RNA virus belonging to the Rhabdoviridae family. VSV is considered the prototypic Rhabdovirus due to its simple genetic organization, broad host cell tropism, and ability to be easily grown in cell culture. Therefore, VSV has been used as the prototype to study viral entry, transcription, replication, and assembly. Viral entry, a critical step in the lifecycle of the virus, is mediated by the outer surface protein, G and will be the focus of this dissertation.

We hypothesize that the highly conserved residues in the membrane-proximal region of VSV G protein are …