Viruses Commons^™

Conformational Flexibility In The Enterovirus Rna Replication Platform, Meghan S. Warden, Kai Cai, Gabriel Cornilescu, Jordan E. Burke, Komala Ponniah, Samuel E. Butcher, Steven M. Pascal

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

A presumed RNA cloverleaf (5′CL), located at the 5′-most end of the noncoding region of the enterovirus genome, is the primary established site for initiation of genomic replication. Stem–loop B (SLB) and stem–loop D (SLD), the two largest stem–loops within the 5′CL, serve as recognition sites for protein interactions that are essential for replication. Here we present the solution structure of rhinovirus serotype 14 5′CL using a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. In the absence of magnesium, the structure adopts an open, somewhat extended conformation. In the presence of magnesium, the structure compacts, bringing SLB …

Host Factors Against Plant Viruses, Hernan García-Ruiz

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Plant virus genome replication and movement is dependent on host resources and factors. However, plants respond to virus infection through several mechanisms, such as autophagy, ubiquitination, mRNA decay and gene silencing, that target viral components. Viral factors work in synchrony with pro-viral host factors during the infection cycle and are targeted by antiviral responses. Accordingly, establishment of virus infection is genetically determined by the availability of the pro-viral factors necessary for genome replication and movement, and by the balance between plant defence and viral suppression of defence responses. Sequential requirement of pro-viral factors and the antagonistic activity of antiviral factors …

Community-Acquired Pneumonia In Adults: Diagnostic Reliability Of Physical Examination Techniques And Their Teaching In Academia, Amber Tordoff, Lauren A. Williams

Physician Assistant Capstones, 2016 to 2019

Background: Chest physical examination techniques are taught in academia, but their usefulness in the evaluation and diagnosis of patients in the clinical setting is controversial. Objective: To investigate the accuracy of physical examination techniques and their reliability in diagnosing community acquired pneumonia (CAP) and suggest a modified teaching approach to be used in academia. Design: Systematic Literature Review. Methods: Database search of PubMed and Google Scholar using the search terms “prediction of pneumonia in adults” and “prediction rule for pulmonary infiltrates.” Filters were implemented to include articles that only dealt with human subjects and were full text. Articles …

Capsid Structure Of Dsrna Fungal Viruses, Daniel Luque, Carlos P. Mata, Nobuhiro Suzuki, Said A. Ghabrial, José R. Castón

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Most fungal, double-stranded (ds) RNA viruses lack an extracellular life cycle stage and are transmitted by cytoplasmic interchange. dsRNA mycovirus capsids are based on a 120-subunit T = 1 capsid, with a dimer as the asymmetric unit. These capsids, which remain structurally undisturbed throughout the viral cycle, nevertheless, are dynamic particles involved in the organization of the viral genome and the viral polymerase necessary for RNA synthesis. The atomic structure of the T = 1 capsids of four mycoviruses was resolved: the L-A virus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ScV-L-A), Penicillium chrysogenum virus (PcV), Penicillium stoloniferum virus F (PsV-F), and Rosellinia necatrix …

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 …

Using Clinical Decision Support Within The Electronic Health Record To Reduce Incorrect Prescribing For Acute Sinusitis, Regina Ginzburg, Justin J. Conway, Eve Waltermaurer, Wendy Song, Samantha P. Jellinek-Cohen

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: Acute sinusitis has viral etiology in more than 90% of cases, but antibiotics are prescribed for more than 80% of adults in the United States. While applications of computer-assisted guidelines have been found effective in reducing inaccurate prescribing for acute respiratory infections, there is a paucity of research focused specifically on the utilization of electronic best practice alerts (BPA) in improving treatment for acute sinusitis.

Methods: This observational cohort study examined prescribing behavior for sinusitis at a single Federally Qualified Health Center 1 year prior and during the first year of implementation of a BPA in the electronic health …

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 …

Direct Cell-To-Cell Transmission Of Respiratory Viruses: The Fast Lanes, Nicolás P. Cifuentes-Muñoz, Rebecca Ellis Dutch, Roberto Cattaneo

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Virus particles protect genomes from hostile environments within and outside the host, eventually delivering these genomes to target tissues to initiate infection. Complex processes requiring significant energy and time are necessary to assemble these virus particles, but only a small portion of released virus will successfully infect new target cells (Fig 1A). While the science of virology has developed based on the isolation and purification of viral particles, it is becoming increasingly clear that direct cell-to-cell transmission of viruses and/or viral components is also highly relevant [1,2].

Direct cell-to-cell spread of infections has several advantages. The first is efficiency: genomic …

A Time Course Study Of Rotavirus-Infected Intestinal Cells Treated With Stilbenoids And The Regulation Of Apoptosis, Rebecca D. Parr, Caleb M. Witcher, Rebekah Napier-Jameson, Hannah L. Wilson, Stormey Wisdom, Macie N. Mattila, Essence B. Strange, Josephine Taylor, Beatrice Clack, Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, Judith M. Ball

Faculty Publications

This is a time course study of virus –host interactions that are modified with the addition of two small natural products. They appear to effect virus replication and the host response to the infection.

Ictv Virus Taxonomy Profile: Hypoviridae, Nobuhiro Suzuki, Said A. Ghabrial, Kook-Hyung Kim, Michael Pearson, Shin-Yi L. Marzano, Hajime Yaegashi, Jiatao Xie, Lihua Guo, Hideki Kondo, Igor Koloniuk, Bradley I. Hillman, Ictv Report Consortium

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

The Hypoviridae, comprising one genus, Hypovirus, is a family of capsidless viruses with positive-sense, ssRNA genomes of 9.1–12.7 kb that possess either a single large ORF or two ORFs. The ORFs appear to be translated from genomic RNA by non-canonical mechanisms, i.e. internal ribosome entry site-mediated and stop/restart translation. Hypoviruses have been detected in ascomycetous or basidiomycetous filamentous fungi, and are considered to be replicated in host Golgi-derived, lipid vesicles that contain their dsRNA as a replicative form. Some hypoviruses induce hypovirulence to host fungi, while others do not. This is a summary of the current ICTV report …

Role Of Protein Charge Density On Hepatitis B Virus Capsid Formation, Xinyu Sun, Dong Li, Zhaoshuai Wang, Panchao Yin, Rundong Hu, Rundong Hu, Hui Li, Qiao Liu, Yunyi Gao, Baiping Ren, Jie Zheng, Yinan Wei, Tianbo Liu

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The role of electrostatic interactions in the viral capsid assembly process was studied by comparing the assembly process of a truncated hepatitis B virus capsid protein Cp149 with its mutant protein D2N/D4N, which has the same conformational structure but four fewer charges per dimer. The capsid protein self-assembly was investigated under a wide range of protein surface charge densities by changing the protein concentration, buffer pH, and solution ionic strength. Lowering the protein charge density favored the capsid formation. However, lowering charge beyond a certain point resulted in capsid aggregation and precipitation. Interestingly, both the wild-type and D2N/D4N mutant displayed …

Transmembrane Domains Of Highly Pathogenic Viral Fusion Proteins Exhibit Trimeric Association In Vitro, Stacy R. Webb, Stacy E. Smith, Michael G. Fried, Rebecca Ellis Dutch

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Enveloped viruses require viral fusion proteins to promote fusion of the viral envelope with a target cell membrane. To drive fusion, these proteins undergo large conformational changes that must occur at the right place and at the right time. Understanding the elements which control the stability of the prefusion state and the initiation of conformational changes is key to understanding the function of these important proteins. The construction of mutations in the fusion protein transmembrane domains (TMDs) or the replacement of these domains with lipid anchors has implicated the TMD in the fusion process. However, the structural and molecular details …

Paclitaxel Enhances Oncolytic Potential Of Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 In Cancer Cells, Misagh Naderi

LSU Master's Theses

Taxanes are spindle poisons that bind to and stabilize microtubules resulting in mitotic arrest. Herpes simplex Typ-1 (HSV-1) virions utilize the microtubular network for intracellular transport during both virus entry and virus egress from infected cells. It has been reported previously that taxanes may synergize with oncolytic herpes simplex viruses in the treatment of experimental prostate and breast tumors in mice. Other reports have indicated that taxanes may inhibit viral replication in infected cells. In this study the previously characterized Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (OSVP), which was constructed in Kousoulas lab was used in conjugation with paclitaxel (taxol) …

Evaluation Of Vaccine Derived Poliovirus Type 2 Outbreak Response Options: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Karachi, Pakistan, Ali Faisal Saleem Dr, Mohammad Tahir Yousafzai, Ondrej Mach, Asia Khan, Farheen Quadri, William C. Weldon, M. Steven Oberste, Syed S. Zaidi, Muhammad M. Alam, Anita K. M. Zaidi

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Outbreaks of circulating vaccine derived polioviruses type 2 (cVDPV2) remain a risk to poliovirus eradication in an era without live poliovirus vaccine containing type 2 in routine immunization. We evaluated existing outbreak response strategies recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for control of cVDPV2 outbreaks.
Methods: Seronegative children for poliovirus type 2 (PV2) at 22 weeks of life were assigned to one of four study groups and received respectively (1) one dose of trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (tOPV); (2) monovalent OPV 2 (mOPV2); (3) tOPV together with a dose of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV); or (4) mOPV2 with …

Central Nervous System Histoplasmosis: Multicenter Retrospective Study On Clinical Features, Diagnostic Approach And Outcome Of Treatment, Joseph Wheat, Thein Myint, Ying Guo, Phebe Kemmer, Chadi A. Hage, Colin Terry, Marwan M. Azar, James Riddell, Peter Ender, Sharon Chen, Kareem Shehab, Kerry Cleveland, Eden Esguerra, James Johnson, Patty Wright, Vanja Douglas, Pascalis Vergidis, Winnie Ooi, John Baddley, David Bamberger, Raed N. Khairy, Holenarasipur R. Vikram, Elizabeth Jenny-Avital, Geetha Sivasubramanian, Karen Bowlware, Barbara Pahud, Juan Sarria, Townson Tsai, Maha Assi, Satish Mocherla

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Central nervous system (CNS) involvement occurs in 5 to 10% of individuals with disseminated histoplasmosis. Most experience has been derived from small single center case series, or case report literature reviews. Therefore, a larger study of central nervous system (CNS) histoplasmosis is needed in order to guide the approach to diagnosis, and treatment.

A convenience sample of 77 patients with histoplasmosis infection of the CNS was evaluated. Data was collected that focused on recognition of infection, diagnostic techniques, and outcomes of treatment.

Twenty nine percent of patients were not immunosuppressed. Histoplasma antigen, or anti-Histoplasma antibodies were detected in the …

Phylogenetic Analysis And Characterization Of A Sporadic Isolate Of Equine Influenza A H3n8 From An Unvaccinated Horse In 2015, Chithra C. Sreenivasan, Sunayana S. Jandhyala, Sisi Luo, Ben M. Hause, Milton Thomas, David E. B. Knudsen, Pamela Leslie-Steen, Travis Clement, Stephanie E. Reedy, Thomas Chambers, Jane Christopher-Hennings, Eric Nelson, Dan Wang, Radhey S. Kaushik, Feng Li

Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center Faculty Publications

Equine influenza, caused by the H3N8 subtype, is a highly contagious respiratory disease affecting equid populations worldwide and has led to serious epidemics and transboundary pandemics. This study describes the phylogenetic characterization and replication kinetics of recently-isolated H3N8 virus from a nasal swab obtained from a sporadic case of natural infection in an unvaccinated horse from Montana, USA. The nasal swab tested positive for equine influenza by Real-Time Quantitative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Further, the whole genome sequencing of the virus confirmed that it was the H3N8 subtype and was designated as A/equine/Montana/9564-1/2015 (H3N8). A BLASTn search revealed …

Biophysical Approaches To Solve The Structures Of The Complex Glycan Shield Of Chloroviruses, Cristina De Castro, Garry Duncan, Domenico Garozzo, Antonio Molinaro, Luisa Sturiale, Michela Tonetti, James L. Van Etten

James Van Etten Publications

The capsid of Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus (PBCV-1) contains a heavily glycosylated major capsid protein, Vp54. The capsid protein contains four glycans, each N-linked to Asn. The glycan structures are unusual in many aspects: (1) they are attached by a β-glucose linkage, which is rare in nature; (2) they are highly branched and consist of 8–10 neutral monosaccharides; (3) all four glycoforms contain a dimethylated rhamnose as the capping residue of the main chain, a hyper-branched fucose residue and two rhamnose residues ''with opposite absolute configurations; (4) the four glycoforms differ by the nonstoichiometric presence of two monosaccharides, l-arabinose and …

Eritrea: Malaria, Michael Tirabasso

Global Public Health

Eritrea has always been one of the most poverty struck countries in the world. Due to the country's poor conditions, the people of Eritrea are prone to sickness. One of the most common diseases in Eritrea is Malaria. Eritrea has been a high risk country for Malaria for years and is improving ever so slowly. Health officials are enforcing mosquito nets, pesticides and other mosquito control methods to reduce the damage Malaria does to the country. Within this short report you will find solutions that the people of Eritrea are doing to help this epidemic along with other issues.

Genes For Membrane Transport Proteins: Not So Rare In Viruses, Timo Greiner, Anna Moroni, James L. Van Etten, Gerhard Thiel

James Van Etten Publications

Some viruses have genes encoding proteins with membrane transport functions. It is unknown if these types of proteins are rare or are common in viruses. In particular, the evolutionary origin of some of the viral genes is obscure, where other viral proteins have homologs in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. We searched virus genomes in databases looking for transmembrane proteins with possible transport function. This effort led to the detection of 18 different types of putative membrane transport proteins indicating that they are not a rarity in viral genomes. The most abundant proteins are K+ channels. Their predicted structures vary between …