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Viruses Apr 2024Inflammation is a protective host response essential for controlling viral replication and promoting tissue repair [...].
Inflammation is a protective host response essential for controlling viral replication and promoting tissue repair [...].
Topics: Inflammation; Humans; Virus Diseases; Animals; Viruses; Virus Replication; Host-Pathogen Interactions
PubMed: 38675930
DOI: 10.3390/v16040588 -
Journal of Virology Jan 2024In the United States (US), biosafety and biosecurity oversight of research on viruses is being reappraised. Safety in virology research is paramount and oversight...
In the United States (US), biosafety and biosecurity oversight of research on viruses is being reappraised. Safety in virology research is paramount and oversight frameworks should be reviewed periodically. Changes should be made with care, however, to avoid impeding science that is essential for rapidly reducing and responding to pandemic threats as well as addressing more common challenges caused by infectious diseases. Decades of research uniquely positioned the US to be able to respond to the COVID-19 crisis with astounding speed, delivering life-saving vaccines within a year of identifying the virus. We should embolden and empower this strength, which is a vital part of protecting the health, economy, and security of US citizens. Herein, we offer our perspectives on priorities for revised rules governing virology research in the US.
Topics: Humans; Containment of Biohazards; COVID-19; United States; Viruses; Virology; Biomedical Research
PubMed: 38168672
DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01791-23 -
Nature Jan 2024Bacteria encode hundreds of diverse defence systems that protect them from viral infection and inhibit phage propagation. Gabija is one of the most prevalent anti-phage...
Bacteria encode hundreds of diverse defence systems that protect them from viral infection and inhibit phage propagation. Gabija is one of the most prevalent anti-phage defence systems, occurring in more than 15% of all sequenced bacterial and archaeal genomes, but the molecular basis of how Gabija defends cells from viral infection remains poorly understood. Here we use X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to define how Gabija proteins assemble into a supramolecular complex of around 500 kDa that degrades phage DNA. Gabija protein A (GajA) is a DNA endonuclease that tetramerizes to form the core of the anti-phage defence complex. Two sets of Gabija protein B (GajB) dimers dock at opposite sides of the complex and create a 4:4 GajA-GajB assembly (hereafter, GajAB) that is essential for phage resistance in vivo. We show that a phage-encoded protein, Gabija anti-defence 1 (Gad1), directly binds to the Gabija GajAB complex and inactivates defence. A cryo-EM structure of the virally inhibited state shows that Gad1 forms an octameric web that encases the GajAB complex and inhibits DNA recognition and cleavage. Our results reveal the structural basis of assembly of the Gabija anti-phage defence complex and define a unique mechanism of viral immune evasion.
Topics: Bacteria; Bacterial Proteins; Bacteriophages; Cryoelectron Microscopy; Crystallography, X-Ray; Deoxyribonucleases; DNA, Viral; Immune Evasion; Protein Multimerization
PubMed: 37992757
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06855-2 -
Viruses Dec 2023Norway is situated in a remote and sparsely inhabited part of the world with about 5 [...].
Norway is situated in a remote and sparsely inhabited part of the world with about 5 [...].
Topics: Norway; Virology
PubMed: 38140624
DOI: 10.3390/v15122383 -
Frontiers in Bioscience (Landmark... Dec 2023Fang Wu, Wenzhao Cheng, Feiyuan Zhao, Mingqing Tang, Yong Diao, Ruian Xu. Association of N6-methyladenosine with viruses and virally induced diseases. Front. Biosci....
Fang Wu, Wenzhao Cheng, Feiyuan Zhao, Mingqing Tang, Yong Diao, Ruian Xu. Association of N6-methyladenosine with viruses and virally induced diseases. Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2020, 25(6), 1184-1201. https://doi.org/10.2741/4852 The above article, published online on 1 March 2020 in Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed), has been withdrawn by agreement between the Editor-in-Chief Dr. Graham Pawelec and IMR Press. The withdrawal due to the authors not completing a copyright license agreement form.
PubMed: 38179778
DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2812369 -
Experimental & Molecular Medicine Apr 2024The dynamic spatial organization of genomes across time, referred to as the four-dimensional nucleome (4DN), is a key component of gene regulation and biological fate.... (Review)
Review
The dynamic spatial organization of genomes across time, referred to as the four-dimensional nucleome (4DN), is a key component of gene regulation and biological fate. Viral infections can lead to a reconfiguration of viral and host genomes, impacting gene expression, replication, latency, and oncogenic transformation. This review provides a summary of recent research employing three-dimensional genomic methods such as Hi-C, 4C, ChIA-PET, and HiChIP in virology. We review how viruses induce changes in gene loop formation between regulatory elements, modify chromatin accessibility, and trigger shifts between A and B compartments in the host genome. We highlight the central role of cellular chromatin organizing factors, such as CTCF and cohesin, that reshape the 3D structure of both viral and cellular genomes. We consider how viral episomes, viral proteins, and viral integration sites can alter the host epigenome and how host cell type and conditions determine viral epigenomes. This review consolidates current knowledge of the diverse host-viral interactions that impact the 4DN.
Topics: Humans; Genome, Viral; Animals; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Viruses; Chromatin; Virus Diseases
PubMed: 38658699
DOI: 10.1038/s12276-024-01207-0 -
World Journal of Gastroenterology May 2024Viral hepatitis represents a major danger to public health, and is a globally leading cause of death. The five liver-specific viruses: Hepatitis A virus, hepatitis B... (Review)
Review
Viral hepatitis represents a major danger to public health, and is a globally leading cause of death. The five liver-specific viruses: Hepatitis A virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, hepatitis D virus, and hepatitis E virus, each have their own unique epidemiology, structural biology, transmission, endemic patterns, risk of liver complications, and response to antiviral therapies. There remain few options for treatment, in spite of the increasing prevalence of viral-hepatitis-caused liver disease. Furthermore, chronic viral hepatitis is a leading worldwide cause of both liver-related morbidity and mortality, even though effective treatments are available that could reduce or prevent most patients' complications. In 2016, the World Health Organization released its plan to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by the year 2030, along with a discussion of current gaps and prospects for both regional and global eradication of viral hepatitis. Today, treatment is sufficiently able to prevent the disease from reaching advanced phases. However, future therapies must be extremely safe, and should ideally limit the period of treatment necessary. A better understanding of pathogenesis will prove beneficial in the development of potential treatment strategies targeting infections by viral hepatitis. This review aims to summarize the current state of knowledge on each type of viral hepatitis, together with major innovations.
Topics: Humans; Antiviral Agents; Hepatitis, Viral, Human; Hepatitis Viruses; Prevalence; Liver
PubMed: 38764770
DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i18.2402 -
Nature Immunology Oct 2023Natural killer (NK) cells are critical effectors of antiviral immunity. Researchers have therefore sought to characterize the NK cell response to coronavirus disease... (Review)
Review
Natural killer (NK) cells are critical effectors of antiviral immunity. Researchers have therefore sought to characterize the NK cell response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the virus that causes it, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The NK cells of patients with severe COVID-19 undergo extensive phenotypic and functional changes. For example, the NK cells from critically ill patients with COVID-19 are highly activated and exhausted, with poor cytotoxic function and cytokine production upon stimulation. The NK cell response to SARS-CoV-2 is also modulated by changes induced in virally infected cells, including the ability of a viral peptide to bind HLA-E, preventing NK cells from receiving inhibitory signals, and the downregulation of major histocompatibility complex class I and ligands for the activating receptor NKG2D. These changes have important implications for the ability of infected cells to escape NK cell killing. The implications of these findings for antibody-dependent NK cell activity in COVID-19 are also reviewed. Despite these advances in the understanding of the NK cell response to SARS-CoV-2, there remain critical gaps in our current understanding and a wealth of avenues for future research on this topic.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Killer Cells, Natural; HLA Antigens; Ligands
PubMed: 37460639
DOI: 10.1038/s41590-023-01560-8