Curious entanglements: interactions between mosquitoes, their microbiota, and arboviruses
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 37Author(s): Eric P Caragata, Chinmay V Tikhe, George DimopoulosMosquitoes naturally harbor a diverse community of microorganisms that play a crucial role in their biology. Mosquito–microbiota interactions are abundant and complex. They can dramatically alter the mosquito immune response, and impede or enhance a mosquito’s ability to transmit medically important arboviral pathogens. Yet critically, given the massive public health impact of arboviral disease, few such interactions have been well characterized. In this review, we describe the curren...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - June 5, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Astrovirus and the microbiome
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 37Author(s): Valerie Cortez, Elisa Margolis, Stacey Schultz-CherryAlthough astroviruses are most commonly associated with acute gastrointestinal illness in humans, their ability to infect a broad range of hosts and cause a spectrum of disease makes them widespread and complex pathogens. The precise mechanisms that dictate the course of astrovirus disease have not been studied extensively but are likely driven by multifactorial host–microbe interactions. Recent insights from studies of animal astrovirus infections have revealed both beneficial and de...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - June 2, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
How the gut microbiome regulates host immune responses to viral vaccines
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 37Author(s): Anastasia N Vlasova, Sayaka Takanashi, Ayako Miyazaki, Gireesh Rajashekara, Linda J SaifThe co-evolution of the microbiota and immune system has forged a mutually beneficial relationship. This relationship allows the host to maintain the balance between active immunity to pathogens and vaccines and tolerance to self-antigens and food antigens. In children living in low-income and middle-income countries, undernourishment and repetitive gastrointestinal infections are associated with the failure of oral vaccines. Intestinal dysbiosis assoc...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - June 2, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Editorial overview: Antiviral strategies: Antiviral drug development for single-stranded RNA viruses
Publication date: Available online 29 May 2019Source: Current Opinion in VirologyAuthor(s): Margo A Brinton, Richard K Plemper (Source: Current Opinion in Virology)
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - May 29, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Development of CAR-T cells for long-term eradication and surveillance of HIV-1 reservoir
Publication date: October 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 38Author(s): Bingfeng Liu, Wanying Zhang, Hui ZhangHuman immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reservoir is a pool of latently infected cells harboring replication-competent proviral DNA that limits antiretroviral therapy. Suppression of HIV-1 by combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) delays progression of the disease but does not eliminate the viral reservoir, necessitating lifetime daily administration of antiretroviral drugs. To achieve durable suppression of viremia without daily therapy, various strategies have been developed, including long-...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - May 25, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Small RNAs to treat human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection by gene therapy
Publication date: October 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 38Author(s): Ryan P Goguen, Camille MG Malard, Robert J Scarborough, Anne GatignolCurrent drug therapies for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) infection are effective in preventing progression to acquired immune deficiency syndrome but do not eliminate the infection and are associated with unwanted side effects. A potential alternative is to modify the genome of patient cells via gene therapy to confer HIV resistance to these cells. Small RNAs are the largest and most diverse group of anti-HIV genes that have been developed for engineering HI...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - May 19, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Interactions between noroviruses, the host, and the microbiota
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 37Author(s): Forrest C Walker, Megan T BaldridgeIn recent years, appreciation has been growing for the role that the microbiota plays in interactions between the host and various pathogens, including norovirus. Proviral and antiviral effects of the microbiota have been observed for both human and murine noroviruses, and it has become clear that direct effects of microbes and their metabolites as well as indirect effects of commensals on the host are key in modulating pathogenesis. In particular, a common thread has emerged in the ability of members of...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - May 15, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Virus capsid assembly across different length scales inspire the development of virus-based biomaterials
Publication date: June 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 36Author(s): Ekaterina Selivanovitch, Trevor DouglasIn biology, there are an abundant number of self-assembled structures organized according to hierarchical levels of complexity. In some examples, the assemblies formed at each level exhibit unique properties and behaviors not present in individual components. Viruses are an example of such where first individual subunits come together to form a capsid structure, some utilizing a scaffolding protein to template or catalyze the capsid formation. Increasing the level of complexity, the viral capsids can t...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - May 7, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Between a shock and a hard place: challenges and developments in HIV latency reversal
Publication date: October 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 38Author(s): Jennifer M Zerbato, Harrison V Purves, Sharon R Lewin, Thomas A RasmussenLatently infected cells that persist in HIV-infected individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART) are a major barrier to cure. One strategy to eliminate latency is by activating viral transcription, commonly called latency reversal. Several small non-randomised clinical trials of latency reversing agents (LRAs) in HIV-infected individuals on ART increased viral production, but disappointingly did not reduce the number of latently infected cells or delay time to viral...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - April 30, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Current status of small molecule drug development for Ebola virus and other filoviruses
Publication date: April 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 35Author(s): Megan R Edwards, Christopher F BaslerThe filovirus family includes some of the deadliest viruses known, including Ebola virus and Marburg virus. These viruses cause periodic outbreaks of severe disease that can be spread from person to person, making the filoviruses important public health threats. There remains a need for approved drugs that target all or most members of this virus family. Small molecule inhibitors that target conserved functions hold promise as pan-filovirus therapeutics. To date, compounds that effectively target virus ...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - April 18, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Slow and steady wins the race: physical limits on the rate of viral DNA packaging
Publication date: June 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 36Author(s): Paul J JardineDuring the assembly of dsDNA viruses such as the tailed bacteriophages and herpesviruses, the viral chromosome is compacted to near crystalline density inside a preformed head shell. DNA translocation is driven by powerful ring ATPase motors that couple ATP binding, hydrolysis, and release to force generation and movement. Studies of the motor of the bacteriophage phi29 have revealed a complex mechanochemistry behind this process that slows as the head fills. Recent studies of the physical behavior of packaging DNA suggest tha...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - April 18, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Editorial overview: Emerging viruses: interspecies transmission: Expect the unexpected
Publication date: Available online 21 March 2019Source: Current Opinion in VirologyAuthor(s): Adolfo García-Sastre, Juergen A Richt (Source: Current Opinion in Virology)
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - March 21, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
The intersection of sex and gender in the treatment of influenza
Publication date: April 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 35Author(s): Rosemary Morgan, Sabra L KleinMales/men and females/women differ in the outcome of influenza A virus (IAV) infections, vaccination, and antiviral treatments. Both sex (i.e. biological factors) and gender (i.e. sociocultural factors) can impact exposure and severity of IAV infections as well as responses and outcomes of treatments for IAV. Greater consideration of the combined effects of sex and gender in epidemiological, clinical, and animal studies of influenza pathogenesis is needed.Graphical abstract (Source: Current Opinion in Virology)
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - March 21, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
The multiple origins of proteins present in tupanvirus particles
Publication date: June 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 36Author(s): Paulo Victor de Miranda Boratto, Ana Cláudia dos Santos Pereira Andrade, Rodrigo Araújo Lima Rodrigues, Bernard La Scola, Jônatas Santos AbrahãoIn the last few decades, the isolation of amoebae-infecting giant viruses has challenged established principles related to the definition of virus, their evolution, and their particle structures represented by a variety of shapes and sizes. Tupanviruses are one of the most recently described amoebae-infecting viruses and exhibit a peculiar morphology with a cylindrical tail attached to the capsi...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - March 18, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
Taming a beast: lessons from the domestication of hepatitis C virus
Publication date: April 2019Source: Current Opinion in Virology, Volume 35Author(s): Joseph M Luna, Mohsan Saeed, Charles M Rice“What I cannot create, I do not understand.” Richard Feynman may have championed reasoning from first principles in his famous blackboard missive, but he could just as well have been referring to the plight of a molecular virologist. What cannot be grown in a controlled laboratory setting, we cannot fully understand. The story of the laboratory domestication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is now a classic example of virologists applying all manner of inventive skill to create cell-based models of ...
Source: Current Opinion in Virology - March 13, 2019 Category: Virology Source Type: research
