The Distribution and Prevalence of Group a Arbovirus Neutralizing Antibodies Among Human Populations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands

1975 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 664-675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Tesh ◽  
Leon Rosen ◽  
D. Carleton Gajdusek ◽  
John H. Cross ◽  
Ralph M. Garruto
2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayvan Etebari ◽  
Rhys Parry ◽  
Marie Joy B. Beltran ◽  
Michael J. Furlong

ABSTRACT Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV) is a double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) virus which has been used as a biocontrol agent to suppress the coconut rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. A new wave of O. rhinoceros incursions in Oceania is thought to be related to the presence of low-virulence isolates of OrNV or virus-tolerant haplotypes of beetles. In this study, chronically infected beetles were collected from Philippines, Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and the Solomon Islands (SI). RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed to investigate the global viral gene expression profiles and for comparative genomic analysis of structural variations. Maximum likelihood phylogenic analysis indicated that OrNV strains from the SI and Philippines are closely related, while OrNV strains from PNG and Fiji formed a distinct adjacent clade. We detected several polymorphic sites with a frequency higher than 35% in 892 positions of the viral genome. Nonsynonymous mutations were detected in several hypothetical proteins and 15 nudivirus core genes, such as gp034, lef-8, lef-4, and vp91. We found limited evidence of variation in viral gene expression among geographic populations. Only a few genes, such as gp01, gp022, and gp107, were differentially expressed among different strains. Additionally, small RNA sequencing from the SI population suggested that OrNV is targeted by the host RNA interference (RNAi) response with abundant 21-nucleotide small RNAs. Some of these genomic changes are specific to the geographic population and could be related to particular phenotypic characteristics of the strain, such as viral pathogenicity or transmissibility, and this requires further investigation. IMPORTANCE Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus has been an effective biocontrol agent against the coconut rhinoceros beetle in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands for decades. The recent outbreak of these beetles in many South Pacific islands has had a significant impact on livelihoods in the region. It has been suggested that the resurgence and spread of the pest are related to the presence of low-virulence isolates of OrNV or virus-tolerant haplotypes of beetles. We examined viral genomic and transcriptional variations in chronically infected beetles from different geographical populations. A high number of polymorphic sites among several geographical strains of OrNV were identified, but potentially only a few of these variations in the genome are involved in functional changes and can potentially alter the typical function. These findings provide valuable resources for future studies to improve our understanding of the OrNV genetic variations in different geographic regions and their potential link to virus pathogenicity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 191558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Herrera ◽  
Spiridoula Kraitsek ◽  
Jose A. Alcalde ◽  
Daniel Quiroz ◽  
Herman Revelo ◽  
...  

Chickens ( Gallus gallus domesticus ) from the Americas have long been recognized as descendants of European chickens, transported by early Europeans since the fifteenth century. However, in recent years, a possible pre-Columbian introduction of chickens to South America by Polynesian seafarers has also been suggested. Here, we characterize the mitochondrial control region genetic diversity of modern chicken populations from South America and compare this to a worldwide dataset in order to investigate the potential maternal genetic origin of modern-day chicken populations in South America. The genetic analysis of newly generated chicken mitochondrial control region sequences from South America showed that the majority of chickens from the continent belong to mitochondrial haplogroup E. The rest belongs to haplogroups A, B and C, albeit at very low levels. Haplogroup D, a ubiquitous mitochondrial lineage in Island Southeast Asia and on Pacific Islands is not observed in continental South America. Modern-day mainland South American chickens are, therefore, closely allied with European and Asian chickens. Furthermore, we find high levels of genetic contributions from South Asian chickens to those in Europe and South America. Our findings demonstrate that modern-day genetic diversity of mainland South American chickens appear to have clear European and Asian contributions, and less so from Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Furthermore, there is also some indication that South Asia has more genetic contribution to European chickens than any other Asian chicken populations.


2021 ◽  
pp. 209-219
Author(s):  
Chunming Wu

AbstractAncient “Bai Yue” (百越) and “Austronesian” are indigenous peoples with very close relationship, distributing from south China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. The relationship between Bai Yue and Proto-Austronesian has long been studied in both Chinese and Euro-American academies. During most of the twentieth century, Chinese historians and archaeologists mainly discussed the origins of Malay ethnics as one branch of Austronesian within the academic framework of the ethno-history of Bai Yue centering on the southeast coast of China, while western academic peers mainly based on the linguistic investigation of modern Austronesian and carried out multi-disciplines’ research on the origin of Proto-Austronesian.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivitri Dewi Prasasty ◽  
Karel Grazzolie ◽  
Rosmalena Rosmalena ◽  
Fatmawaty Yazid ◽  
Fransiskus Xaverius Ivan ◽  
...  

The Zika virus disease, also known as Zika fever is an arboviral disease that became epidemic in the Pacific Islands and had spread to 18 territories of the Americas in 2016. Zika virus disease has been linked to several health problems such as microcephaly and the Guillain–Barré syndrome, but to date, there has been no vaccine available for Zika. Problems related to the development of a vaccine include the vaccination target, which covers pregnant women and children, and the antibody dependent enhancement (ADE), which can be caused by non-neutralizing antibodies. The peptide vaccine was chosen as a focus of this study as a safer platform to develop the Zika vaccine. In this study, a collection of Zika proteomes was used to find the best candidates for T- and B-cell epitopes using the immunoinformatics approach. The most promising T-cell epitopes were mapped using the selected human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles, and further molecular docking and dynamics studies showed a good peptide-HLA interaction for the best major histocompatibility complex-II (MHC-II) epitope. The most promising B-cell epitopes include four linear peptides predicted to be cross-reactive with T-cells, and conformational epitopes from two proteins accessible by antibodies in their native biological assembly. It is believed that the use of immunoinformatics methods is a promising strategy against the Zika viral infection in designing an efficacious multiepitope vaccine.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Angel Duenas-Lopez

Abstract Eragrostis amabilis is an annual terrestrial grass with pan-tropical distribution, naturalized elsewhere in the neo-tropics, that is used as an ornamental grass and for lawns. It is a common weed in disturbed, open areas, such as those close to forest margins and along roadsides, and often grows as a weed in upland rice crops in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is listed as invasive in the Pacific Islands, Central America and Cuba, but no further information is available about its impacts or invasiveness in natural or semi-natural habitats in its non-native range.


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