Virology Commons^™

Triatomines: Trypanosomatids, Bacteria, And Viruses Potential Vectors? [Review], Caroline Barreto Vieira, Yanna Reis Praça, Kaio Luís Da Silva Bentes, Paula Beatriz Santiago, Sofia Marcelino Martins Silva, Gabriel Dos Santos Silva, Flávia Nader Motta, Izabela Marques Dorado Bastos, Jaime Martins De Santana, Carla Nunes De Araújo

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Triatominae bugs are the vectors of Chagas disease, a major concern to public health especially in Latin America, where vector-borne Chagas disease has undergone resurgence due mainly to diminished triatomine control in many endemic municipalities. Although the majority of Triatominae species occurs in the Americas, species belonging to the genus Linshcosteus occur in India, and species belonging to the Triatoma rubrofasciata complex have been also identified in Africa, the Middle East, South-East Asia, and in the Western Pacific. Not all of Triatominae species have been found to be infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, but the possibility of establishing vector transmission …

Kaposi’S Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Seropositivity Is Associated With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Case–Control Study In Xinjiang, China, Meng Cui, Qiwen Fang, Jun Zheng, Zhanjun Shu, Yin Chen, Yage Fan, Juan Zhao, Charles Wood, Tiejun Zhang, Yan Zeng

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Objective: To assess the potential relationship between Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) infection and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM-2) in Xinjiang, China.

Methods: A case–control study of consecutively included DM-2 patients and normal controls was conducted among the Uygur and Han populations in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. Blood samples were collected and KSHV seroprevalence, antibody titers, and viral load were investigated. Logistic regression analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were applied to explore determinants of the main outcome measures.

Results: A total of 324 patients with DM-2 and 376 normal controls were included. The seroprevalence of KSHV was 49.1% (95% …

Gene Gangs Of The Chloroviruses: Conserved Clusters Of Collinear Monocistronic Genes, Phillip Seitzer, Adrien Jeanniard, Fangrui Ma, James L. Van Etten, Marc T. Facciotti, David D. Dunigan

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Chloroviruses (family Phycodnaviridae) are dsDNA viruses found throughout the world’s inland waters. The open reading frames in the genomes of 41 sequenced chloroviruses (330 + 40 kbp each) representing three virus types were analyzed for evidence of evolutionarily conserved local genomic “contexts”, the organization of biological information into units of a scale larger than a gene. Despite a general loss of synteny between virus types, we informatically detected a highly conserved genomic context defined by groups of three or more genes that we have termed “gene gangs”. Unlike previously described local genomic contexts, the definition of gene gangs requires only …

Development Of A Reliable Method To Express And Purify Vaccinia Virus Transcription Factors A7 And D6 In Bacteria, Younghoon Park

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Poxvirus early genes code for viral products involved in host interaction, immune evasion, replication, and transcription of the viral genome. These viral early genes contain a unique and conserved promoter sequence that is recognized by early transcription factors (ETFs). The working hypothesis is pharmacologically targeting the structure of the poxvirus early promoters can inhibit transcription of poxvirus early genes. Our group has identified unique secondary structure which deviates from a scrambled control near the Vaccinia Virus (VACV) E9L promoter. Targeting these unique structures, which most likely may be G-quadruplexes, with structure specific ligands may distort local DNA structures at the …

Susceptibility Genes To Plant Viruses, Hernan Garcia-Ruiz

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Plant viruses use cellular factors and resources to replicate and move. Plants respond to viral infection by several mechanisms, including innate immunity, autophagy, and gene silencing, that viruses must evade or suppress. Thus, the establishment of infection is genetically determined by the availability of host factors necessary for virus replication and movement and by the balance between plant defense and viral suppression of defense responses. Host factors may have antiviral or proviral activities. Proviral factors condition susceptibility to viruses by participating in processes essential to the virus. Here, we review current advances in the identification and characterization of host factors …

Mechanisms Adopted By Dengue-2 Viruses To Induce Autophagy In Mammalian Cells, Sounak Ghosh Roy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dengue, the most rapidly spreading flavivirus, threatens to affect almost half of the human global population. We previously showed that dengue-2 protects canine kidney cells (MDCK) from cytotoxic chemicals. We showed, independently, that cell protection, as well as viral replication and maturation, are positively regulated by PI3K-dependent autophagy. However, we had not identified the specific pathway that induces autophagy in infected cells. The current study explores the role of a specific branch of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-mediated Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), the PERK/eIF2α/ATF4 pathway in the induction of autophagy by …

Congenital Zika Virus Infection In Immunocompetent Mice Causes Postnatal Growth Impediment And Neurobehavioral Deficits, Amber M. Paul, Dhiraj Acharya, Biswas Neupane, E. Ashley Thompson, Gabriel Gonzalez-Fernandez, Katherine M. Copeland

Publications

A small percentage of babies born to Zika virus (ZIKV)-infected mothers' manifest severe defects at birth, including microcephaly. Among those who appeared healthy at birth, there are increasing reports of postnatal growth or developmental defects. However, the impact of congenital ZIKV infection in postnatal development is poorly understood. Here, we report that a mild congenital ZIKV-infection in pups born to immunocompetent pregnant mice did not display apparent defects at birth, but manifested postnatal growth impediments and neurobehavioral deficits, which include reduced locomotor and cognitive deficits that persisted into adulthood. We found that the brains of these pups were smaller, had …

Sodium Pyruvate Alters The Immune Response To Influenza A Virus Infection In Macrophages, Hazzar Abysalamah

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Pyruvate is the end product of glycolysis. It can either be transported into the mitochondria for use in the TCA cycle or be used to regenerate NAD⁺ during fermentation or aerobic glycolysis (also called the Warburg Effect). I recently discovered that addition of sodium pyruvate to the culture medium during infection of macrophages with influenza A virus affects the production of cytokines involved in immune signaling. While infection of macrophages with influenza A virus resulted in high levels of cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α) in the absence of sodium pyruvate, the addition of sodium pyruvate significantly impaired cytokine …

Grapevine Vein Clearing Virus: Epidemiological Patterns And Construction Of A Clone, Cory Von Keith

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Grapevine vein clearing virus (GVCV) is a recently discovered virus belonging to the Badnavirus genus. Characteristic to its name, the virus is associated with a disease where symptoms manifest as pronounced vein-clearing, resulting in severe berry deformation and vine decline in susceptible grape varieties. Sustainable production of wine is dependent on healthy plants. The associated disease is mainly found in Midwest vineyards. Attempts were made in this thesis to provide evidence of causality of the virus to the associated disease and to infer the historical path and migration pattern of GVCV. Conclusions and discussions will provide grape producers with the …

Contributions Of The Gp120 Variable Loops To Envelope Glycoprotein Trimer Stability In Primate Lentiviruses, Dane M. Bowder

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the etiological agent of AIDS and is responsible for the AIDS pandemic worldwide. According to UNAIDS, as of 2016, there were approximately 36.7 million people living with HIV globally, and 1.8 million new infections that year. While antiretroviral therapies and education continue to reduce these numbers, a preventative vaccine is still required to curb this epidemic. The envelope glycoprotein trimer of HIV, which is the sole protein on the surface of the virus and facilitates entry of the virus into host cells, is of keen interest to the HIV vaccine and drug-development field. Recently, the …

Evaluation Of A Human Papillomavirus Genotyping Assay For Cervical Cancer Screening In Tanzania, Kandali S. Kapie

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Abstract: Mucosal high-risk Human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) has been identified as the primary factor in causing cervical cancer, the most common cancer in women of low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Cervical cancer screening, incorporating the HPV test shown to be more advantageous than screening by visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) alone. However, due to resources constrain these countries could not afford the available HPV tests. We, therefore, validated a cost-effective Multiplex PCR HPV (mPCR) assay, a recently developed assay for detecting sixteen genital HPV, fourteen HR-HPV and 2 low-risk genotypes. We postulate that this HPV multiplex assay will be at …

Honey Bee And Bumble Bee Antiviral Defense, Alexander J. Mcmenamin, Daughenbaugh F. Katie, Fenali Parek, Marie C. Pizzorno, Michelle L. Flenniken

Faculty Journal Articles

Bees are important plant pollinators in both natural and agricultural ecosystems. Managed and wild bees have experienced high average annual colony losses, population declines, and local extinctions in many geographic regions. Multiple factors, including virus infections, impact bee health and longevity. The majority of bee-infecting viruses are positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses. Bee-infecting viruses often cause asymptomatic infections but may also cause paralysis, deformity or death. The severity of infection is governed by bee host immune responses and influenced by additional biotic and abiotic factors. Herein, we highlight studies that have contributed to the current understanding of antiviral defense in bees, …

Comparative Genetic And Genomic Analysis Of The Novel Fusellovirus Sulfolobus Spindle-Shaped Virus 10, David Andrew Goodman

Dissertations and Theses

Viruses that infect thermophilic Archaea are unique in both their structure and genetic makeup. The lemon-shaped fuselloviruses - which infect members of the order Sulfolobales, growing optimally at 80º C and pH 3 - are some of the most ubiquitous and best studied viruses of the thermoacidophilic Archaea. They provide a malleable and useful genetic tool for probing into the functions of their host, as well as the host responses to infection. Nonetheless, much about these viruses remains to be learned to further understand their morphological, genetic, and life cycle characteristics.

In order to investigate these aspects of these …

Global Phosphoproteomics Of Ccr5-Tropic Hiv-1 Signaling Reveals Reprogramming Of Cellular Protein Production Pathways And Identifies P70-S6k1 And Mk2 As Hiv-Responsive Kinases Required For Optimal Infection Of Cd4+ T Cells, Danica D. Wiredja, Caroline O. Tabler, Daniela M. Schlatzer, Ming Li, Mark R. Chance, John C. Tilton

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Viral reprogramming of host cells enhances replication and is initiated by viral interaction with the cell surface. Upon human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) binding to CD4+ T cells, a signal transduction cascade is initiated that reorganizes the actin cytoskeleton, activates transcription factors, and alters mRNA splicing pathways. Methods: We used a quantitative mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomic approach to investigate signal transduction cascades initiated by CCR5-tropic HIV, which accounts for virtually all transmitted viruses and the vast majority of viruses worldwide. Results: CCR5-HIV signaling induced significant reprogramming of the actin cytoskeleton and mRNA splicing pathways, as previously described. In addition, CCR5-HIV signaling …

Viral Entry Properties Required For Fitness In Humans Are Lost Through Rapid Genomic Change During Viral Isolation, Sho Iketani, Ryan C. Shean, Marion Ferren, Negar Makhsous, Dolly B. Aquino, Amedee Des Georges, Bert Rima, Cyrille Mathieu, Matteo Porotto, Anne Moscona, Alexander L. Greninger

Advanced Science Research Center

Human parainfluenza viruses cause a large burden of human respiratory illness. While much research relies upon viruses grown in cultured immortalized cells, human parainfluenza virus 3 (HPIV-3) evolves in culture. Cultured viruses differ in their properties compared to clinical strains. We present a genome-wide survey of HPIV-3 adaptations to culture using metagenomic next-generation sequencing of matched pairs of clinical samples and primary culture isolates (zero passage virus). Nonsynonymous changes arose during primary viral isolation, almost entirely in the genes encoding the two surface glycoproteins—the receptor binding protein hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) or the fusion protein (F). We recovered genomes from 95 HPIV-3 …

Type 2 Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus NPro Suppresses Type I Interferon Pathway Signaling In Bovine Cells And Augments Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus Replication, Abdulrahman Abdulaziz A. Alkheraif

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) infections contribute to the bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC), which is a multi-factorial disorder involving co-infections of viruses and bacteria including mycoplasma. BRDC causes great economic losses to the United States feedlot industry. BVDV infection induces immunosuppression in infected animals. BVDV N^pro binds and degrades the transcription factor interferon regulatory factor-3 (IRF-3) and effectively blocks type I interferon (type I IFN) expression in host cells. BRSV nonstructural proteins, NS1 and NS2, block activation of IRF-3. In calves, concurrent infection with BVDV and BRSV resulted in more severe clinical …

Zika Modulates Arthropod Histone Methylation In Mosquito Cells, Telvin Lee Harrell

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Epigenetics is the heritable series of covalent modifications that affect chromatin structure, gene expression, and protein function. Methylation is one such epigenetic modification that involves the addition of chemical modifying entities, such as methyl groups, on nucleic acids or proteins. Recent studies have reported that Zika virus (ZIKV) modulates methylation of human and viral RNA important for its replication in vertebrate cells. However, little is known whether ZIKV exerts methylation in arthropod vectors. In this study, I show that ZIKV modulates S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe) synthase, an enzyme involved in the production of SAMe, and histone methylation for its survival in …

Investigating The Viral Ecology Of Global Bee Communities With High-Throughput Metagenomics, David A. Galbraith, Zachary L. Fuller, Allyson M. Ray, Axel Brockmann, Maryann Frazier, Mary W. Gikungu, J. Francisco Iturralde Martinez, Karen M. Kapheim, Jeffrey T. Kerby, Sarah D. Kocher, Oleksiy Losyev, Elliud Muli, Harland M. Patch, Cristina Rosa, Joyce M. Sakamoto, Scott Stanley, Anthony D. Vaudo, Christina M. Grozinger

Biology Faculty Publications

Bee viral ecology is a fascinating emerging area of research: viruses exert a range of effects on their hosts, exacerbate the impacts of other environmental stressors, and, importantly, are readily shared across multiple bee species in a community. However, our understanding of bee viral communities is limited, as it is primarily derived from studies of North American and European Apis mellifera populations. Here, we examined viruses in populations of A. mellifera and 11 other bee species from 9 countries, across 5 continents and Oceania. We developed a novel pipeline to rapidly, inexpensively, and robustly screen for bee viruses. This pipeline …

Survival And Inactivation Of Salmonella Enterica And Human Norovirus On Consumer Contact Surfaces, Dorra Simmons

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Salmonella enterica and human norovirus (HuNoV) are the leading cause of bacterial and viral gastroenteritis worldwide, respectively. One of the most important transmission routes of these pathogens is contaminated surfaces. In this study, we investigated the survival and the disinfection of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) and HuNoV on selected consumer contact surfaces.

In the case of S. Typhimurium, formica laminate, stainless steel, and plastic cutting board surfaces were inoculated with different microbial loads of cells collected at log (6 h), stationary (24 h), or LTS (14 days) phases. The disinfection efficacy of two disinfectants (sodium hypochlorite or …

Arthropod Evs Mediate Dengue Virus Transmission Through Interaction With A Tetraspanin Domain Containing Glycoprotein Tsp29fb, Ashish Vora, Wenshuo Zhou, Berlin Londono-Renteria, Michael Woodson, Michael B. Sherman, Tonya M. Collpitts, Girish Neelakanta, Hameeda Sultana

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that causes dengue fever in humans, worldwide. Using in vitro cell lines derived from Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, the primary vectors of DENV, we report that DENV2/DENV3-infected cells secrete extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes, containing infectious viral RNA and proteins. A full-length DENV2 genome, detected in arthropod EVs, was infectious to naïve mosquito and mammalian cells, including human-skin keratinocytes and blood endothelial cells. Cryo-electron microscopy showed mosquito EVs with a size range from 30 to 250 nm. Treatments with RNase A, Triton X-100, and 4G2 antibody-bead binding assays showed that infectious …