Are phytoplankton population density maxima predictable through analysis of host and viral genomic DNA content?

2006 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris M. Brown ◽  
Janice E. Lawrence ◽  
Douglas A. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Dna Content ◽  
Viral Genome ◽  
Particle Assembly ◽  
Phytoplankton Population ◽  
Strong Linear Correlation ◽  
Viral Progeny ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Viral Proliferation ◽  
Viral Particle Assembly

Phytoplankton:virus interactions are important factors in aquatic nutrient cycling and community succession. The number of viral progeny resulting from an infection of a cell critically influences the propagation of infection and concomitantly the dynamics of phytoplankton populations. Host nucleotide content may be the resource limiting viral particle assembly. We present evidence for a strong linear correlation between measured viral burst sizes and viral burst sizes predicted from the host DNA content divided by the viral genome size, across a diversity of phytoplankton:viral pairs. An analysis of genome sizes therefore supports predictions of taxon-specific phytoplankton population density thresholds beyond which viral proliferation can trim populations or terminate phytoplankton blooms. We present corollaries showing that host:virus interactions may place evolutionary pressure towards genome reduction of both phytoplankton hosts and their viruses.

scholarly journals A thermophilic phage uses a small terminase protein with a fixed helix-turn-helix geometry

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janelle A. Hayes ◽  
Brendan J. Hilbert ◽  
Christl Gaubitz ◽  
Nicholas P. Stone ◽  
Brian A. Kelch
Keyword(s):  
Viral Genome ◽  
Nuclease Activity ◽  
Dna Packaging ◽  
Particle Assembly ◽  
Dna Packaging Motor ◽  
Motor Component ◽  
Thermophilic Bacteriophage ◽  
Viral Particle Assembly ◽  
Large Terminase ◽  
Helix Geometry

SUMMARYTailed bacteriophage use a DNA packaging motor to encapsulate their genome during viral particle assembly. The small terminase (TerS) component acts as a molecular matchmaker by recognizing the viral genome as well as the main motor component, the large terminase (TerL). How TerS binds DNA and the TerL protein remains unclear. Here, we identify the TerS protein of the thermophilic bacteriophage P74-26. TerSP76-26 oligomerizes into a nonamer that binds DNA, stimulates TerL ATPase activity, and inhibits TerL nuclease activity. Our cryo-EM structure shows that TerSP76-26 forms a ring with a wide central pore and radially arrayed helix-turn-helix (HTH) domains. These HTH domains, which are thought to bind DNA by wrapping the helix around the ring, are rigidly held in an orientation distinct from that seen in other TerS proteins. This rigid arrangement of the putative DNA binding domain imposes strong constraints on how TerSP76-26 can bind DNA. Finally, the TerSP76-26 structure lacks the conserved C-terminal β-barrel domain used by other TerS proteins for binding TerL, suggesting that a well-ordered C-terminal β-barrel domain is not necessary for TerS to carry out its function as a matchmaker.

Head Size and DNA Content in Bacteriophage T4

1972 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 200-201
Author(s):  
Fred Eiserling ◽  
A. H. Doermann ◽  
Linde Boehner
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Dna Content ◽  
Bacteriophage T4 ◽  
Head Size ◽  
Virus Particles ◽  
Altered Protein ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Bacterial Viruses ◽  
A Site ◽  
Protein Shell

The control of form or shape inheritance can be approached by studying the morphogenesis of bacterial viruses. Shape variants of bacteriophage T4 with altered protein shell (capsid) size and nucleic acid (DNA) content have been found by electron microscopy, and a mutant (E920g in gene 66) controlling head size has been described. This mutant produces short-headed particles which contain 2/3 the normal DNA content and which are non-viable when only one particle infects a cell (Fig. 1).We report here the isolation of a new mutant (191c) which also appears to be in gene 66 but at a site distinct from E920g. The most striking phenotype of the mutant is the production of about 10% of the phage yield as “giant” virus particles, from 3 to 8 times longer than normal phage (Fig. 2).

Plasmodium berghei-infected red cells sorted according to DNA content

Parasitology ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Howard ◽  
F. L. Battye
Keyword(s):  
Red Blood Cells ◽  
Dna Content ◽  
Cell Sorting ◽  
Plasmodium Berghei ◽  
Blood Cells ◽  
Dye Uptake ◽  
Direct Proportion ◽  
Mouse Blood ◽  
Infected Blood ◽  
A Cell

SUMMARYA cell-sorting method is described for the analysis and separation of red blood cells in Plasmodium berghei-infected mouse blood based on their DNA content. This method involves a selective uptake of the bis-benzimidazole dye 33258 Hoechst, a DNA-binding dye, by red blood cells containing parasites. Infected blood is incubated at 37 °C with the dye then washed at 4 °C to remove unbound dye. Uninfected cells are then non-fluorescent at the characteristic wavelengths for 33258 Hoechst excitation and emission, whereas parasitized cells display fluorescence intensities in approximately direct proportion to the number of parasite nuclei (i.e. amount of parasite DNA) within the cell and can be sorted accordingly. Providing cells were incubated in a complex nutrient medium during dye uptake at 37°C, the sorted parasite cells produced lethal P. berghei infections when injected into BALB/c mice. The dyelabelling technique is simple and sufficient red blood cells at various stages of infection can be collected for biochemical or immunochemical studies by cell sorting.

scholarly journals The GLN Family of Murine Endogenous Retroviruses Contains an Element Competent for Infectious Viral Particle Formation

2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (9) ◽  
pp. 4413-4419 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ribet ◽  
Francis Harper ◽  
Cécile Esnault ◽  
Gérard Pierron ◽  
Thierry Heidmann
Keyword(s):  
Viral Particle ◽  
Leukemia Virus ◽  
Endogenous Retroviruses ◽  
Particle Assembly ◽  
New Class ◽  
Mouse Mammary Tumor ◽  
The Family ◽  
Tumor Virus ◽  
Mouse Cells ◽  
Viral Particle Assembly

ABSTRACT Several families of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) have been identified in the mouse genome, in several instances by in silico searches, but for many of them it remains to be determined whether there are elements that can still encode functional retroviral particles. Here, we identify, within the GLN family of highly reiterated ERVs, one, and only one, copy that encodes retroviral particles prone to infection of mouse cells. We show that its envelope protein confers an ecotropic host range and recognizes a receptor different from mCAT1 and mSMIT1, the two previously identified receptors for other ecotropic mouse retroviruses. Electron microscopy disclosed viral particle assembly and budding at the cell membrane, as well as release of mature particles into the extracellular space. These particles are closely related to murine leukemia virus (MLV) particles, with which they have most probably been confused in the past. This study, therefore, identifies a new class of infectious mouse ERVs belonging to the family Gammaretroviridae, with one family member still functional today. This family is in addition to the two MLV and mouse mammary tumor virus families of active mouse ERVs with an extracellular life cycle.

scholarly journals The solution to the cytological paradox of isomorphy.

1987 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
pp. 739-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
L J Goff ◽  
A W Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Cell Size ◽  
Dna Content ◽  
Nuclear Dna ◽  
Nuclear Dna Content ◽  
Plastid Dna ◽  
Diploid Cell ◽  
Red Alga ◽  
Haploid Nucleus ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
A Cell

Cells with polyploid nuclei are generally larger than cells of the same organism or species with nonpolyploid nuclei. However, no such change of cell size with ploidy level is observed in those red algae which alternate isomorphic haploid with diploid generations. The results of this investigation reveal the explanation. Nuclear DNA content and other parameters were measured in cells of the filamentous red alga Griffithsia pacifica. Nuclei of the diploid generation contain twice the DNA content of those of the haploid generation. However, all cells except newly formed reproductive cells are multinucleate. The nuclei are arranged in a nearly perfect hexagonal array just beneath the cell surface. When homologous cells of the two generations are compared, although the cell size is nearly identical, each nucleus of the diploid cell is surrounded by a region of cytoplasm (a "domain") nearly twice that surrounding a haploid nucleus. Cytoplasmic domains associated with a diploid nucleus contain twice the number of plastids, and consequently twice the amount of plastid DNA, than is associated with the domain of a haploid nucleus. Thus, doubling of ploidy is reflected in doubling of the size and organelle content of the domain associated with each nucleus. However, cell size does not differ between homologous cells of the two generations, because total nuclear DNA (sum of the DNA in all nuclei in a cell) per cell does not differ. This is the solution to the cytological paradox of isomorphy.

scholarly journals Dengue virus capsid anchor modulates the efficiency of polyprotein processing and assembly of viral particles

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (12) ◽  
pp. 1663-1673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jyoti Rana ◽  
José Luis Slon Campos ◽  
Monica Poggianella ◽  
Oscar R. Burrone
Keyword(s):  
Dengue Virus ◽  
Structure Prediction ◽  
Secondary Structure Prediction ◽  
Sequence Length ◽  
Efficient Production ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Particle Assembly ◽  
Polyprotein Processing ◽  
Viral Polyprotein ◽  
Viral Particle Assembly

The assembly and secretion of flaviviruses are part of an elegantly regulated process. During maturation, the viral polyprotein undergoes several co- and post-translational cleavages mediated by both viral and host proteases. Among these, sequential cleavage at the N and C termini of the hydrophobic capsid anchor (Ca) is crucial in deciding the fate of viral infection. Here, using a refined dengue pseudovirus production system, along with cleavage and furin inhibition assays, immunoblotting and secondary structure prediction analysis, we show that Ca plays a key role in the processing efficiency of dengue virus type 2 (DENV2) structural proteins and viral particle assembly. Replacement of the DENV2 Ca with the homologous regions from West nile or Zika viruses or, alternatively, increasing its length, improved cleavage and hence particle assembly. Further, we showed that substitution of the Ca conserved proline residue (P110) to alanine abolishes pseudovirus production, regardless of the Ca sequence length. Besides providing the results of a biochemical analysis of DENV2 structural polyprotein processing, this study also presents a system for efficient production of dengue pseudoviruses.

scholarly journals Rational pharmacological approach to clinical studies for the treatment of SARS-COV-2 infection

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Antônia Dailane Dos Santos Rabêlo ◽  
Gizelle Gomes De Souza ◽  
Rosilene Ribeiro De Sousa ◽  
Charllyton Luis Sena Da Costa
Keyword(s):  
Viral Particle ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Cell Replication ◽  
Particle Assembly ◽  
Rational Combination ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Multiple Drugs ◽  
Molecular Components ◽  
Viral Particle Assembly

AbstractThe global emergency generated by the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus has created serious impacts on the different populations of the planet and has triggered the generation of scientific information on an unprecedented scale until then for a single topic. One of the consequences of the global scientific effort lies in the large number of substances already tested, by different methods, the search for an effective treatment for the infection and the consequent disease, remaining without absolute success so far. Assimilating the lessons, learned from the successful adoption of therapies combining multiple drugs used in HIV infection, the evidence obtained from the large amount of published information regarding the action of many substances with different mechanisms, now allows the proposition, in this work, of tests clinical trials for the evaluation of regimens composed of at least three drugs in combination. Rational combination schemes can target different molecular components of the virus affecting different points in the SARS-COV-2 replication cycle, such as virus fusion to the host cell, replication and viral particle assembly generating a potentially more effective synergistic effect than attempts using a single substance.Keywords: antiviral, pandemic, combination therapy.

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