Retroelements with long-terminal repeats (LTRs) inhabit nearly all eukaryotic genomes. During the time of their rich evolutionary history they have developed highly diverse forms, ranging from ordinary retrotransposons to complex pathogenic retroviruses such as HIV-I. Errantiviruses are a group of insect endogenous LTR elements that share structural and functional features with vertebrate endog...

Ty3/Gypsy long terminals repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are structurally and phylogenetically close to retroviruses. Two notable structural differences between these groups of genetic elements are 1) the presence in retroviruses of an additional envelope gene, env, which mediates infection, and 2) a specific dual ribonuclease H (RNH) domain encoded by the retroviral pol gene. However, similar to...

Ty3/Gypsy long terminals repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are structurally and phylogenetically close to retroviruses. Two notable structural differences between these groups of genetic elements are 1) the presence in retroviruses of an additional envelope gene, env, which mediates infection, and 2) a specific dual ribonuclease H (RNH) domain encoded by the retroviral pol gene. However, similar to...

The 15,000-molecular-weight polypeptide (p15) of feline leukemia virus (FeLV) was shown to impair normal lymphocyte function in vitro and to abrogate immunity to feline oncornavirus disease in vivo. FeLVp15 suppressed concanavalin A-induced blast transformation of normal feline lymphocytes by 68%, while other virion proteins had no effect. p15 suppression was not due to toxicity, nor was p15 a ...

It is likely that the murine response to human recombinant TNFα (hrTNFα) may generate antibodies (Ab) to epitopes present in TNFα from other species. Here, we demonstrate that F5 antihrTNFα monoclonal antibody (mAb) recognizes feline TNFα while E8 anti-hrTNFα mAb failed to do so. In order to demonstrate that E8 and F5 mAb recognize different epitopes in the hrTNFα molecule, a constant concentra...

Oral disorders of small animals constitute a problem for veterinarians. Chronic oral infections are commonly seen in domestic cats. The objectives of this study were to characterise feline oral lesions, common feline dental problems, and especially the association of oral disease and systemic disease in cats. Two hundred and twenty cats referred over a period of 33 months to the Internal Medici...

Chlamydophila felis and feline herpesvirus (FHV) are pathogens commonly associated with feline respiratory and ocular disease. A real-time multiplex PCR assay was developed to allow detection of these organisms, together with feline 28S ribosomal DNA, in a single tube. Of 538 ocular swab samples tested, 123 were positive for FHV, 97 were positive for C. felis, and 16 were positive for both path...

The interactions between retroviruses and their hosts can be of a beneficial or detrimental nature. Some endogenous retroviruses are involved in development, while others cause disease. The Genome Parsing Suite (GPS) is a software tool to track and trace all Retroid agents in any sequenced genome (M. A. McClure et al., Genomics 85:512-523, 2005). Using the GPS, the retroviral content was assess...

We offer eight well-characterized anti-SAA MAbs for the detection of feline, canine and equine SAA. These MAbs were selected from a pool of over forty MAbs that were raised against human SAA (SAA19, SAA21, SAA11), canine SAA (VSA34, VSA31, VSA38), or synthetic peptides derived from the region 79-104 a.a.r. of canine SAA (VSA2, VSA43). Isotypes and specificities of the antibodies are shown in Ta...