when inactive, denatured, virus RNA is incorporated into a reconstituted nucleoprotein. It should be emphasized that the present data do not, in our opinion, permit a choice between the foregoing alternative explanations. The possibility that small amounts of otherwise inactive virus RNA components may, when incorporated into DNA-bearing nucleoproteins, render the polymer infectious is subject ...

When Ebola virus nucleoprotein (NP) is expressed in mammalian cells, it assembles into helical structures. Here, the recombinant NP helix purified from cells expressing NP was characterized biochemically and morphologically. We found that the recombinant NP helix is associated with non-viral RNA, which is not protected from RNase digestion and that the morphology of the helix changes depending ...

Measles virus (MV) causes small and large outbreaks in Iran. Molecular assays allow identifying and the sources of measles imported from neighboring countries. We carried out a phylogenetic analysis of measles virus circulating in Iran over the period 2010-2012. Specimens from suspected cases of measles were collected from different regions of Iran. Virus isolation was performed on urine and th...

Mu DNA transposition occurs within the context of higher order nucleoprotein structures or transpososomes. We describe a new set of transpososomes in which Mu B-bound target DNA interacts non-covalently with previously characterized intermediates prior to the actual strand transfer. This interaction can occur at several points along the reaction pathway: with the LER, the Type 0 or the Type 1 c...

All modern approaches to molecular phylogenetics require a quantitative model for how genes evolve. Unfortunately, existing evolutionary models do not realistically represent the site-heterogeneous selection that governs actual sequence change. Attempts to remedy this problem have involved augmenting these models with a burgeoning number of free parameters. Here, I demonstrate an alternative: E...

Rachel L. Britt, Nami Haruta, Shelley L. Lusetti, Sindhu Chitteni-Pattu, Ross B. Inman, and Michael M. Cox From the Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, 3-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan, and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, N...