Rotavirus is the single, most important agent of infantile gastroenteritis in many animal species, including humans. In developing countries, rotavirus infection attributes approximately 500,000 deaths annually. Like other viruses it establishes an intimate and complex interaction with the host cell to counteract the antiviral responses elicited by the cell. Among various pattern recognition re...

Solubilized nonstructural antigen III from Saint Louis encephalitis (SLE)-Japanese B encephalitis (JBE)-West Nile (WN) and dengue-2 arbovirus-infected pig kidney cells was purified by employing Brij-58 solubilization, organic solvent extraction, and column chromatography. Diethylaminoethyl-cellulose column peak C eluate contained only intracellular viral envelope protein designated antigen I. A...

Although alphaviruses dramatically alter cellular function within hours of infection, interactions between alphaviruses and specific host cellular proteins are poorly understood. Although the alphavirus nonstructural protein 2 (nsP2) is an essential component of the viral replication complex, it also has critical auxiliary functions that determine the outcome of infection in the host. To gain a...

A generally accepted view of norovirus replication is that capsid expression requires production of a subgenomic transcript, the presence of capsid often being used as a surrogate marker to indicate the occurrence of viral replication. Using a polymerase II-based baculovirus delivery system, we observed capsid expression following introduction of a full-length genogroup 3 norovirus genome into ...

Background: Rotavirus group A (RVA) is recognized as a major cause of severe gastroenteritis in children and new-born animals. Nonstructural protein 4 (NSP4) is responsible for the enterotoxic activity of these viruses in the villus epithelial cells. Amino acids 114-135 of NSP4 are known to form the diarrhea-inducing region of this viral enterotoxin. Therefore, developing an NSP4 lacking the en...

Analysis of [35S]methionine-labeled tryptic peptides of the large proteins induced by temperature-sensitive mutants of Semliki Forest virus was carried out. The 130,000-molecular-weight protein induced by ts-2 and ts-3 mutants contained the peptides of capsid protein and of both major envelope proteins E1 and E2. The ts-3-induced protein with molecular weight of 97,000 contained peptides of the...

However, in cases of HIV-1 and HCV coinfection, the number of chronic HCV infections rises to 90% [4]. The result of any viral infection depends on the interplay between the activation of host cellular factors to the infection and the viral mechanisms that counteract them [5]. HCV is responsible for activating antiviral interferon (IFN)-α/β expression, but irrespective of the expression of thes...

The molecular basis for the diversity across influenza strains is poorly understood. To gain insight into this question, we mutagenized the viral genome and sequenced recoverable viruses. Only two small regions in the genome were enriched for insertions, the hemagglutinin head and the immune-modulatory nonstructural protein 1. These proteins play a major role in host adaptation, and thus need t...

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major worldwide cause of liver disease, including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. It is estimated that more than 170 million individuals are infected with HCV, with three to four million new cases each year. The current standard of care, combination treatment with interferon and ribavirin, eradicates the virus in only about 50% of chronical...

Replication of the rotavirus genome involves two steps: (i) transcription and extrusion of transcripts and (ii) minus-strand RNA synthesis in viral complexes containing plus-strand RNA. In this study, we showed evidence for the importance of the viral nonstructural protein of rotavirus, NSP2, in the replication of viral RNAs. RNA-binding properties of NSP2 were tested by UV cross-linking in viv...