March 2020 marked the beginning of a global pandemic caused by SARSCoV- 2. With development, production and distribution several vaccines there are hopes to an end in sight. However, with emergence mutated viral strains concerns mounting as effectiveness current treatments preventative measures against new strains. Herein we analyzed compared interaction SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein its variant...

E2F transcription factors play an important role in regulating mammalian cell proliferation. E2F6, the most recently identified E2F family member, is a transcriptional repressor. In an effort to ascertain the in vivo biological function of E2F6, we have generated an E2f6 mutant mouse strain. Mice lacking E2F6 are viable and healthy. Surprisingly, E2f6-/- embryonic fibroblasts proliferate normal...

Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is the causative agent of porcine circovirus-associated diseases in pigs. Previously, it was demonstrated that mAbs 16G12, 38C1, 63H3 and 94H8 directed against the PCV2 capsid protein recognize PCV2 strains Stoon-1010 (PCV2a), 48285 (PCV2b), 1121 (PCV2a), 1147 (PCV2b) and II9F (PCV2b), but only neutralize Stoon-1010 and 48285. This points to the existence of two dist...

DELLA proteins, consisting of GA INSENSITIVE, REPRESSOR OF GA1-3, RGA-LIKE1 (RGL1), RGL2, and RGL3, are central repressors of gibberellin (GA) responses, but their molecular functions are not fully understood. We isolated four DELLA-interacting RING domain proteins, previously designated as BOTRYTIS SUSCEPTIBLE1 INTERACTOR (BOI), BOI-RELATED GENE1 (BRG1), BRG2, and BRG3 (collectively referred t...

Activation-induced cell death (AICD) occurs primarily in recently activated T cells after a second TCR triggering. Since a threshold in the activation status may be critical for AICD, it is likely that the CD3 ITAM, docking sites for tyrosine kinases, regulate AICD. A 'threshold model' for AICD was tested by using two targeted mutant mouse strains lacking either the zeta chain (CD3zeta-/-) or t...

An expansion in the CAG repeat of the IT15 (huntingtin) gene underlies the development of Huntington's disease (HD), but the basis for the specific vulnerability of dopamine-receptive striatal neurons remains unclear. To examine the potential role of the dopamine system in the emergence of pathological conditions in HD, we generated a double mutant mouse strain with both enhanced dopamine trans...

The formation and stability of dendritic spines on excitatory cortical neurons are correlated with adult visual plasticity, yet how the formation, loss, and stability of postsynaptic spines register with that of presynaptic axonal varicosities is unknown. Monocular deprivation has been demonstrated to increase the rate of formation of dendritic spines in visual cortex. However, we find that mon...

Exposure to 3TC of HIV-1 mutant strains containing non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-specific mutations in their reverse transcriptase (RT) easily selected for double-mutant viruses that had acquired the characteristic 184-Ile mutation in their RT in addition to the NNRTI-specific mutations. Conversely, exposure of 3TC-resistant 184-Val mutant HIV-1 strains to nine differen...

You are studying the mode of inheritance of eye color in flies. You have isolated four true-breeding mutant strains with green eyes . In contrast, wild-type flies have red eyes . In your Strains box in StarGenetics you will find 1) homozygous mutant male and female flies for each mutant strain and 2) homozygous wild-type male and female flies. In each of the four mutant strains, the mode of inh...

• Pseudomonas syringae type III effectors are known to suppress plant immunity to promote bacterial virulence. However, the activities and targets of these effectors are not well understood. • We used genetic, molecular, and cell biology methods to characterize the activities, localization, and target of the HopD1 type III effector in Arabidopsis. • HopD1 contributes to P. syringae virulence in...