One person’s fight against an HIV infection can decrease the virus’s ability to threaten its next victim, say Goepfert et al. (page 1009). Mutations that help the virus survive in one host decrease its ability to replicate in the next. HIV mutations that help the virus bypass the host’s immune system often fall within gag. This gene is a favorite target for mutations because, for some reason, G...

Recombinant rabies virus (RV)-based vectors have demonstrated their efficacy in generating long-term, antigen-specific immune responses in murine and monkey models. However, replication-competent viral vectors pose significant safety concerns due to vector pathogenicity. RV pathogenicity is largely attributed to its glycoprotein (RV-G), which facilitates the attachment and entry of RV into host...

One person’s fight against an HIV infection can decrease the virus’s ability to threaten its next victim, say Goepfert et al. (page 1009). Mutations that help the virus survive in one host decrease its ability to replicate in the next. HIV mutations that help the virus bypass the host’s immune system often fall within gag. This gene is a favorite target for mutations because, for some reason, G...

Drosophila telomeres are formed by two non-LTR retrotransposons, HeT-A and TART, which transpose only to chromosome ends. Successive transpositions of these telomeric elements yield arrays that are functionally equivalent to the arrays generated by telomerase in other organisms. In contrast, other Drosophila non-LTR retrotransposons transpose widely through gene-rich regions, but not to ends. T...

One person’s fight against an HIV infection can decrease the virus’s ability to threaten its next victim, say Goepfert et al. (page 1009). Mutations that help the virus survive in one host decrease its ability to replicate in the next. HIV mutations that help the virus bypass the host’s immune system often fall within gag. This gene is a favorite target for mutations because, for some reason, G...

Gag proteins play an important role in many stages of the retroviral replication cycle. They orchestrate viral assembly, interact with numerous host cell proteins, engage in regulation of viral gene expression, and provide the main driving force for virus intracellular trafficking and budding. Foamy Viruses (FV), also known as spumaviruses, display a number of unique features among retroviruses...

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-glycosaminoglycan (GAG) hydrogel networks are established as very versatile biomaterials. Herein, the synthetic gel component of biohybrid materials is systematically varied by combining different poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazolines) (POx) with heparin applying a Michael-type addition crosslinking scheme: POx gradated hydrophilicity and temperature-responsiveness provides poly...

BACKGROUND Dystonia is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous movement disorder characterized by sustained muscle contractions affecting one or more sites of the body, frequently causing twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures. A 3-base pair (GAG) deletion in the DYT1 gene is held responsible for most cases of early-onset primary generalized dystonia in the Ashkenazi Jewish p...

Alix [ALG-2 (apoptosis-linked gene 2)-interacting protein X], a component of the endosomal sorting machinery, contains a three-dimensional docking site for HIV-1 p6(Gag) or EIAV (equine infectious anaemia virus) p9(Gag), and binding of the viral protein to this docking site allows the virus to hijack the host endosomal sorting machinery for budding from the plasma membrane. In the present study...

Nef gene function is diverse among virus isolates of primate immunodeficiency viruses. We found differential effects of nef mutation on the virus replication between two HIV-1 clones, NL432 and LAI. The nef mutation in NL432 affected the infectivity more severely compared with that in LAI, although the Nef functions of both clones were comparable. Analysis with a series of chimeric viruses betw...