The association of host proteins with viral replicase complexes has been demonstrated in a number of plus-strand RNA viruses (1, 24), including the Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV). In BaMV it has been reported that chloroplast phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) (25) and HSP90 (Huang et al., unpublished data) are required for the efficient accumulation of BaMV; where as the identity of the additional factors associated within the BaMV RdRp complex, and the proteins involved in satBaMV RNA replication are not yet been acknowledged. This study identified a host metabolic enzyme namely GAPDH, that interact to negatively regulate the Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV) and its associated satellite RNA accumulation. The RNA binding properties of GAPDH has already been documented for a number of viruses (9, 14, 29, 41, 53, 56). However, the interaction of GAPDH protein with different viral RNAs results in a functionally different mode of regulation on viral replication and translation. For instance: GAPDH interacts with the JEV NS5 protein indirectly by binding with 3′-ends of JEV, resulting in virus-induced redistribution of GAPDH to control the early stage of JEV replication/translation (53). GAPDH plays a major functional role in the replication of tombusviruses through the retention of the viral minus-strand RNA template in the replication complex in order to promote asymmetric RNA synthesis (48). In contrast, GAPDH inhibits viral replication in the interaction with other viruses. For example: Silencing GAPDH increases TGEV infection by 2-3 times, demonstrating the anti-TGEV activity of this protein (14). Binding GAPDH to the HAV RNA suppresses cap-independent translation due the destabilization of the secondary structure of RNA (55). In our study, a downregulation of GAPDH-C led to a 2 to 3-fold increase in the replication BaMV and satBaMV RNA, indicating that GAPDH-C has an inhibitory effect on BaMV and satBaMV infection. In addition, an increase in BaMV-GFP was observed on inoculated leaves in GAPDH-C silenced N. benthamiana, revealing that GAPDH-C functions in the early stages while the virus is establishing a successful infection of the primary invaded cells. Similarly, when GAPDH-C is transiently expressed, a 70-80% reduction in the accumulation of BaMV as well a considerable downregulation of BaMV-GFP/satBaMV-GFP was observed in N. benthamiana plants. A similar decrease in the accumulation TMV and the size rather than the number of TMV- GFP foci was observed when TARF was transiently expressed in N. benthamiana (52). Together, this appears to imply that the expression of GAPDH-C has a negative effect on BaMV/satBaMV infection.
In the 1995 film 'Outbreak' directed by Wolfgang Petersen a deadly virus has appeared in different parts of the United States. A team combining of the Center for Disease Control and Army Medical Research Institute of Infection Diseases took the lead on the Motaba virus. Sam the Colonel of the institute took his team to a village in Africa where the disease had been located. The disease wiped most of the village out in a matter of two to three days and they found the possible host. Returning back to the United States Sam and his team came to the conclusion the disease is not airborne and cannot spread. The disease was created 27 years before but destroyed the Army decided to bomb the whole infected area.
Miller, Kenneth R. and Joseph S. Levine. “Chapter 12: DNA and RNA.” Biology. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2002. Print.
The formation of the First Triumvirate took place because of the political motives and the personal motives of the three ruthlessly ambitious power brokers in Rome. These men required the co-operation of the other two in order to further their political careers. During the time of the First Triumvirate many extraordinary powers where obtained and in some cases these where unprecedented. There are some key factors that have to be considered towards the break down of the Triumvirate. The most powerful and influential people, the Optimates became increasingly dis empowered, and a sense of desperation to regain power is felt with the use of Pompey in an a final attempt to restore power to the Senate.
The Norovirus belongs to the family called Caliciviridae. The norovirus causes gastroenteritis which is a condition that causes irritation and inflammation of the stomach and intestines. The norovirus is actually the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis.1
Like other negative-stranded RNA viruses, the G protein of rabies virus binds to the host cell membranes and penetrates into the host cytoplasm by pinocytosis. The virions are composed of cytoplasmic vesicles, fuse to cytoplasmic membrane and release RNP into the cytoplasm. The core starts primary transcription of the five complementary monocistronic messenger RNAs by using the virion-associated RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Each mRNA is translated to an individual viral protein. After synthesis and replication of the genomic RNA, the full length, positive-stranded RNA is completed and becomes the template for the next negative-stranded RNA. In the assembly process, the N-P-L complex encapsulates negative-stranded genomic RNA to be made up of RNP core and the M protein consists of a capsule or matrix that su...
The study of nucleic acids has now become a fruitful and dynamic scientific enterprise. Nucleic acids are of unique importance in biological systems. Genes are made up of deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, and each gene is a linear segment, or polymer, of a long DNA molecule. A DNA polymer, or DNA oligonucleotide, contains a linear arrangement of subunits called nucleotides. There are four types of nucleotides. Each nucleotide has three components; a phosphate group, a sugar and a base that contains nitrogen within its structure. The sugar moiety in DNA oligonucleotides is always dexoyribose, and there are four alternative bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). The phosphate groups and the deoxyribose sugars form the backbone of each DNA stand. The bases are joined to the deoxyribose sugar and stick out to the side. Both oligomers, DNA and RNA, consist of 5’->3’ phosphodiester-linked nucleotide units that are composed of a 2’-deoxy-D-ribose (DNA) or D-ribose (RNA) in their furanose forms and a heteroaromatic nucleobase (A, T, G, and C; A, U, G, C), and the resulting oligonucleotide chain is composed of a polar, negatively charged sugar-phosphate backbone and an array of hydrophobic nucleobases. The amphiphilic nature of these polymers dictates the assembly and maintenance of secondary and tertiary structures the oligonucleotides can form. In the DNA duplex structure, genetic information is stored as a linear nucleotide code. This code can be accessed and replicated. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is another structurally related essential biopolymer. RNA differs from DNA in having the sugar ribose in place of the deoxyribos...
The World Health Organization states that Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) was first apparent in 1967 in Germany, specifically in the Marburg and Frankfurt areas of Germany, hence the name, Marburg virus. The transporters of this disease were believed to have been monkeys from Uganda, and it is a very deadly and fatal disease in which the virus is similar in strain as the one that causes the Ebola virus. Although rare, MVD has the ability to be extremely deadly within an infected society. Outbreaks can prove to be dramatic and if not communicated within the proper societal channels, can be overwhelming to the human race. Outbreaks in history from the Marburg virus have been contained appropriately however, it is vital for health and protection agencies to collaborate in order to contain any future “accidental” or “man-made” outbreaks (World Health Organization, 2012).
The virus is primarily spherical shaped and roughly 200nm in size, surrounded by a host-cell derived membrane. Its genome is minus-sense single-stranded RNA 16-18 kb in length. It contains matrix protein inside the envelope, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, fusion protein, nucleocapsid protein, and L and P proteins to form the RNA polymerase. The host-cell receptors on the outside are hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. The virus is allowed to enter the cell when the hemagglutinin/ neuraminidase glycoproteins fuse with the sialic acid on the surface of the host cell, and the capsid enters the cytoplasm. The infected cells express the fusion protein from the virus, and this links the host cells together to create syncitia.
International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. [Online].; 2002 [cited 2014 April 21. Available from: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store.
Almost all biology students learn the fundamentals of gene expression, DNA contains information which is transcribed into RNA to create protein. Students however, are not taught of RNA Interference, the biological process where RNA molecules inhibit a gene’s expression, RNAi for short. While RNAi is a fairly new discovery, its use in modern biological research is groundbreaking. RNA Interference works by binding Double-stranded RNA molecules (siRNA) to a complementary messenger RNA. The enzymes Dicer and Slicer then cleave the chemical bonds which hold the messeger RNA in place and prevent it from delivering protein silencing instructions thus, the term, Gene Silencing. This phenomenon was first discovered by Richard Jorgensen in 1990 when he was trying to produce deeper purple colored petunias by introducing more purple pigment genes to the flower. To his surprise, the purple petunia turned completely white and got the opposite of his predicted result. At the time Jorgensen coined this effect, “Cosuppression”. It was not until 1998 that Andrew Fire and Craig, C Mello explained the process of RNAi and discovered its use in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. Elegans). In 2006 Fire and Mello won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discover of RNA Interference – gene silencing by double stranded RNA”. They utilized the nematode, C. Elegans due to its whole genome being sequenced. This unique characteristic allows for every gene to be tested
The hanta virus is not a new foe to humanity. This mysterious and sometimes fatal disease has plagued humanity for over 1000 years. This virus, most likely originating in China over 1000 years ago, is transmitted by human contact with mice. Only relatively recently has the hanta virus captured the attention of the United States. Although the hanta virus has been known for such a long time, there is little known about the virus. In the United States most cases are found in the southwestern part of the country, although cases have been reported from all four corners of the country. Recently, there have been successful tests done on prospective vaccines for the hanta virus. Despite this, strains of the hanta virus kill many people a year for lack of an effective medicine or vaccine (www.pharminfo.com).
The Ebola virus is also a part of the Filoviridae family, along with Marburg, and contains a lipid envelope and has a single RNA strand. Ebolavirons are approximately 80 nanometers in width and vary in length. They also contain seven structural proteins that are surrounded by the lipid envelope that has an attached glycoprotein. During replication, it goes through translation but during transcription it stops after one or two genes so that on the 3 prime end it is completely transcribed but the 5 prime end is not transcribed and does not possess a 5-cap.
Dinoflagellates are one of the four main types of phytoplankton, which are photosynthetic, single celled and free living organisms in the ocean. Dinoflagellates cause the Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) also known as the red tide effect (Hackett et al 2004). Toxicity persisting at upper levels of the food chain is detected in them from the ones which are toxic, but not all such blooms are toxic. Enhanced detection capabilities may in part contribute to observed high frequency and severity of toxic blooms. As they are also important in the health of coral reefs their study has gained significant interest. Species are often selected for genome sequencing based on their importance as a model organism or relevance to human health, such as the HAB case.
...ound in our bodies. The trick is that the virus “gets confused” and incorporates the fatal molecule into its growing RNA strands which leads to the prevention of RNA synthesis and thus the entire viral replication.
There are three genera in the Flaviviridae family (formerly known as group B arboviruses) namely Flavivirus, Pestivirus and Hepacivirus. The dengue virus is a member of the genus Flavivirus which consists of 55 identified virus species (ICTVdB, 2006). The word Flavi is a derivation from the Latin “flavus” which means “yellow” and the type species of the genus is a yellow fever virus (YFV). The flaviviruses are thus named due to the jaundice observed in yellow fever patients. Many flaviviruses are important human pathogens, most notably the dengue viruses, yellow fever virus, Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), West Nile virus (WNV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). The flaviviruses are predominantly transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks, whereas some have no known vector. Dengue was one of the groups classified when early researchers divided the flaviviruses serologically into eight antigenic complexes using cross-neutralization tests. However, many viruses, for example the prototype of the genus YFV, could not be affiliated with any complexes (Calisher et al., 1989). When sequence data became available, phylogenetic inference from molecular data showed agreement with the antigenic complex classification. In addition, it revealed the ...