Viruses from extreme environments are still largely unexplored and may harbor unseen genetic potential. Here, we present a first glance at the morphological diversity of virus like particles (VLPs) from an environment that is extreme in more than one respect: two recently discovered hydrothermal vent fields on the East Scotia Ridge in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. They are the southernmos...

Norovirus (NoV) capsid proteins were expressed as virus-like particles (VLPs) by using recombinant baculovirus in insect cells, which had 5 genotypes in genogroup I and 11 genotypes in genogroup II, and the VLPs were used as immunogens. Polyclonal antibody against the VLP of GII/3 genotype showed broad-range cross-reactivity, reacting not only with intra-genogroup strains, but also inter-genogr...

Human papillomavirus 6b L1 virus-like particles (VLPs) were successfully expressed using Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) bacmid expression system and rapidly purified using size exclusion chromatography after ultracentrifugation procedure and characterized by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). The average capillary electrophoresis migration time was 11 min with the relative standard...

Tetherin (also known as BST-2 or CD317) has recently been identified as a potent IFN-induced anti-viral protein that inhibits the release of diverse enveloped virus particles from infected cells. The anti-viral activity of tetherin on a number of enveloped viruses, including retroviruses, filoviruses and arenaviruses, has been examined. Here, we show that tetherin is also capable of blocking th...

Ag retention on follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) is essential for B cell activation and clonal selection within germinal centers. Protein Ag is deposited on FDCs after formation of immune complexes with specific Abs. In this study, by comparing the same antigenic determinant either as soluble protein or virus-like particle (VLP), we demonstrate that VLPs are transported efficiently to murine s...

This study aims to investigate the effect of Bifidobacterium adolescentis against noroviruses (NoVs). Murine norovirus-1 (MNV-1) used as a surrogate was detected by plaque assay and RT-qPCR. Human NoV virus like particles (VLPs) were detected by cell-binding assay. It was shown that the presence of B. adolescentis could inhibit the multiplication of MNV-1 on RAW 264.7 cells within 48 h of co-in...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) L1 virus-like particles (VLPs) were proven an effective vaccine candidate to prevent against HPV-16 and -18 infections. In order to evaluate the potency of our produced HPV-16 and -18 L1 VLPs-based vaccine candidates, also to quantify neutralizing antibodies induced by them, a 2-plex Luminex-based competitive immunoassay was developed. Unlike the published paper, the ...

Macroautophagy (autophagy) is a bulk degradation system for cytoplasmic components and is ubiquitously found in eukaryotic cells. Autophagy is induced under starvation conditions and plays a cytoprotective role by degrading unwanted cytoplasmic materials. The Ty1 transposon, a member of the Ty1/copia superfamily, is the most abundant retrotransposon in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and act...

Tetherin (BST-2/CD317) is a host cell restriction factor that acts on wide range of enveloped viruses by physically linking virions to the host cell’s plasma membrane [1]. Retention of virions at the plasma membrane requires dimerization of tetherin monomers, which is mediated by tetherin’s large ectodomain and membrane insertions of tetherin’s N-terminal single transmembrane domain and Ctermin...

To develop an effective vaccine against multiple genotypes of enterovirus 71 (EV71), we generated chimeric virus-like particles (VLPs) repetitively displaying the common neutralizing epitopes of EV71 and evaluated their immunogenicities in mice. The two conserved epitopes, encompassing amino acids 163-177 and 208-222 of VP1 of EV71, were fused to hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) and expressed i...