The herpesvirus life cycle involves a step where newly formed capsids leave the nucleus by translocating across the intact nuclear envelope (NE). Little is known about the role of cellular factors during nuclear egress. We sought to identify novel cellular proteins that interact with the conserved herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) pUL34 by performing a yeast two-hybrid screen. pUL34 was chosen due to its crucial and multifunctional role during nuclear egress. From 42 cellular factors that interacted with pUL34 in yeast, twelve were further evaluated in mammalian cells by co-localization studies using immunofluorescence. No specific co-location between the tested cellular factors and pUL34 was observed in infected cells, thus the screen failed to convincingly identify novel pUL34 interactors. In the second part of the thesis we addressed the functional significance of the cellular protein torsinA (TA) in the HSV-1 life cycle. We became interested in TA due to its role in maintaining normal NE morphology. We showed that perturbing the normal function of TA through overexpression impaired HSV-1 replication and caused a defect in capsid nuclear egress. In mouse embryonic fibroblasts that failed to express TA (TA-/-MEFs), HSV-1 replication was also inhibited, but a defect in capsid nuclear egress was not apparent. Strikingly, infection in TA-null MEFs induced a NE breakdown, the extent of which was dependent on viral products involved in nuclear egress. The viral growth defect and NE envelope breakdown, however, seem to be TA-null cell line specific rather than a functional consequence of TA loss as indicated by TA-/-MEFs reconstituted with TA and 293T with reduced TA levels. In conclusion, overexpression and loss of TA have different effects on the HSV-1 life cycle.

The unfolded protein response (UPR) is induced by a variety of external and internal stimuli, including accumulation of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Viruses such as Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) induce host cells to produce viral proteins many of which undergo glycosylation and other modifications in the ER, causing stress to the ER and consequently UPR activation. I have tested the hypothesis that HSV-1 has evolved strategies to regulate the UPR in order to suppress aspects of the UPR that might interfere with viral replication and to promote pathways that aid its own survival and replication. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that HSV-1 selectively modulates the three pathways (PERK, ATF6, and IRE-1) of the UPR in epithelial and neuronal cells and to examine the similarities and the differences between these two types of cells in their responses to ER stress. Vero and ONS-76 cells were used as models of epithelial and neuronal cells respectively and qRT PCR technique was used for analyzing RNA levels of transcripts of spliced Xbp1, HERP, CHOP and BIP, selected target genes for three pathways of the UPR. HSV-1 DNA synthesis and infectious virus production in infected cells showed that compared to the permissive Vero cells, ONS-76 cells seemed to be semi-permissive to HSV-1 infection with limited viral DNA synthesis and infectious virus production. The kinetics of transcript and protein synthesis for genes representing immediate early, early and late classes of viral genes was also monitored. Expression of the immediate early gene, ICP0, was similar in both cell types but the expression of the early gene, TK and late genes VP16 and VP 5 was different. My work reveals that HSV-1 infection in cells of epithelial and neuronal origins results in activation of the UPR, but through cell type selective regulation of the three signal transduction pathways of the UPR (PERK, ATF6, and IRE-1). While HSV-1 infection resulted in upregulation of Spliced Xbp1 and its target gene HERP (IRE1 pathway) and downregulation of BIP (ATF6 pathway) in both cell types, CHOP (PERK pathway) was upregulated only in ONS cells. My results suggest that some aspects of the UPR are regulated differently in cells representing the sites for HSV-1 lytic and latent infections. This may indicate the need for increasing the capacity for protein folding and degradation (Xbp1 and ATF6-induced) in both cells but a requirement for suppressing apoptosis (PERK-induced) only in epithelial cells. As well, I show that HSV-1 infection not only selectively activates the UPR pathways in different cell types, but also inactivates some components of the UPR pathways activated by the drug thapsigargin.

The unfolded protein response (UPR) is induced by a variety of external and internal stimuli, including accumulation of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Viruses such as Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) induce host cells to produce viral proteins many of which undergo glycosylation and other modifications in the ER, causing stress to the ER and consequently UPR activation. I have tested the hypothesis that HSV-1 has evolved strategies to regulate the UPR in order to suppress aspects of the UPR that might interfere with viral replication and to promote pathways that aid its own survival and replication. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that HSV-1 selectively modulates the three pathways (PERK, ATF6, and IRE-1) of the UPR in epithelial and neuronal cells and to examine the similarities and the differences between these two types of cells in their responses to ER stress. Vero and ONS-76 cells were used as models of epithelial and neuronal cells respectively and qRT PCR technique was used for analyzing RNA levels of transcripts of spliced Xbp1, HERP, CHOP and BIP, selected target genes for three pathways of the UPR. HSV-1 DNA synthesis and infectious virus production in infected cells showed that compared to the permissive Vero cells, ONS-76 cells seemed to be semi-permissive to HSV-1 infection with limited viral DNA synthesis and infectious virus production. The kinetics of transcript and protein synthesis for genes representing immediate early, early and late classes of viral genes was also monitored. Expression of the immediate early gene, ICP0, was similar in both cell types but the expression of the early gene, TK and late genes VP16 and VP 5 was different. My work reveals that HSV-1 infection in cells of epithelial and neuronal origins results in activation of the UPR, but through cell type selective regulation of the three signal transduction pathways of the UPR (PERK, ATF6, and IRE-1). While HSV-1 infection resulted in upregulation of Spliced Xbp1 and its target gene HERP (IRE1 pathway) and downregulation of BIP (ATF6 pathway) in both cell types, CHOP (PERK pathway) was upregulated only in ONS cells. My results suggest that some aspects of the UPR are regulated differently in cells representing the sites for HSV-1 lytic and latent infections. This may indicate the need for increasing the capacity for protein folding and degradation (Xbp1 and ATF6-induced) in both cells but a requirement for suppressing apoptosis (PERK-induced) only in epithelial cells. As well, I show that HSV-1 infection not only selectively activates the UPR pathways in different cell types, but also inactivates some components of the UPR pathways activated by the drug thapsigargin.

This thesis aims to present a color segmentation approach for traffic sign recognition based on LVQ neural networks. The RGB images were converted into HSV color space, and segmented using LVQ depending on the hue and saturation values of each pixel in the HSV color space. LVQ neural network was used to segment red, blue and yellow colors on the road and traffic signs to detect and recognize them. LVQ was effectively applied to 536 sampled images taken from different countries in different conditions with 89% accuracy and the execution time of each image among 31 images was calculated in between 0.726sec to 0.844sec. The method was tested in different environmental conditions and LVQ showed its capacity to reasonably segment color despite remarkable illumination differences. The results showed high robustness.

The unfolded protein response (UPR) is induced by a variety of external and internal stimuli, including accumulation of misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Viruses such as Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) induce host cells to produce viral proteins many of which undergo glycosylation and other modifications in the ER, causing stress to the ER and consequently UPR activation. I have tested the hypothesis that HSV-1 has evolved strategies to regulate the UPR in order to suppress aspects of the UPR that might interfere with viral replication and to promote pathways that aid its own survival and replication. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that HSV-1 selectively modulates the three pathways (PERK, ATF6, and IRE-1) of the UPR in epithelial and neuronal cells and to examine the similarities and the differences between these two types of cells in their responses to ER stress. Vero and ONS-76 cells were used as models of epithelial and neuronal cells respectively and qRT PCR technique was used for analyzing RNA levels of transcripts of spliced Xbp1, HERP, CHOP and BIP, selected target genes for three pathways of the UPR. HSV-1 DNA synthesis and infectious virus production in infected cells showed that compared to the permissive Vero cells, ONS-76 cells seemed to be semi-permissive to HSV-1 infection with limited viral DNA synthesis and infectious virus production. The kinetics of transcript and protein synthesis for genes representing immediate early, early and late classes of viral genes was also monitored. Expression of the immediate early gene, ICP0, was similar in both cell types but the expression of the early gene, TK and late genes VP16 and VP 5 was different. My work reveals that HSV-1 infection in cells of epithelial and neuronal origins results in activation of the UPR, but through cell type selective regulation of the three signal transduction pathways of the UPR (PERK, ATF6, and IRE-1). While HSV-1 infection resulted in upregulation of Spliced Xbp1 and its target gene HERP (IRE1 pathway) and downregulation of BIP (ATF6 pathway) in both cell types, CHOP (PERK pathway) was upregulated only in ONS cells. My results suggest that some aspects of the UPR are regulated differently in cells representing the sites for HSV-1 lytic and latent infections. This may indicate the need for increasing the capacity for protein folding and degradation (Xbp1 and ATF6-induced) in both cells but a requirement for suppressing apoptosis (PERK-induced) only in epithelial cells. As well, I show that HSV-1 infection not only selectively activates the UPR pathways in different cell types, but also inactivates some components of the UPR pathways activated by the drug thapsigargin.

Knockdown of the M5 acetylcholine muscarinic receptor in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) reduces brain-stimulation reward sensitivity in rats. Knockout (KO) of the M5 receptor in mice reduces morphine-induced dopamine efflux, locomotion, conditionedplace- preference, and mating-induced 30-110 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). The GFP-labeled M5 receptor gene was transfected using a Herpes simplex virus either into the VTA or 0.2-0.7 mm posterior in the medial tegmentum (MT) of male M5 KO mice. HSV-M5-GFP transfection in VTA fully restored mating-induced USVs and augmented morphine-induced locomotion and stereotypy consistent with activation of DA neurons by M5 receptors. HSV-M5-GFP transfection sites in the MT inhibited USVs and morphine-induced locomotion presumably through inhibition of DA neurons. Putative transfection of M5 in GABA neurons of the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) or 5HT neurons of the median raphe (mR) may explain this inhibition. Therefore, HSV-M5- GFP transfection in the VTA enhances DA-mediated behaviours while MT transfections inhibits these behaviours.

No description available.

Knockdown of the M5 acetylcholine muscarinic receptor in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) reduces brain-stimulation reward sensitivity in rats. Knockout (KO) of the M5 receptor in mice reduces morphine-induced dopamine efflux, locomotion, conditionedplace- preference, and mating-induced 30-110 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). The GFP-labeled M5 receptor gene was transfected using a Herpes simplex virus either into the VTA or 0.2-0.7 mm posterior in the medial tegmentum (MT) of male M5 KO mice. HSV-M5-GFP transfection in VTA fully restored mating-induced USVs and augmented morphine-induced locomotion and stereotypy consistent with activation of DA neurons by M5 receptors. HSV-M5-GFP transfection sites in the MT inhibited USVs and morphine-induced locomotion presumably through inhibition of DA neurons. Putative transfection of M5 in GABA neurons of the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) or 5HT neurons of the median raphe (mR) may explain this inhibition. Therefore, HSV-M5- GFP transfection in the VTA enhances DA-mediated behaviours while MT transfections inhibits these behaviours.

Human Herpes Simplex viruses and Simian Herpes Simplex viruses share a high degree of genome homology, but despite this, important differences arise when the viruses are compared at the level of gene expression and virulence in non-host primates. In Human Herpes viruses (HSV-1 and HSV-2); 5 genes (RL02, US01, RS01, UL54 and US12) are expressed with an immediate early kinetics, i.e. their transcriptional activation does not require de novo synthesis of host or viral factors. The five immediate early (IE) genes regulate the cascade of expression of the other early and late HSV genes. Literature indicates that in HSV-1 infections, ICP4, ICP27 and to a lesser extent, ICP0, are mandatory for the full expression of the early and late gene classes. In contrast, our data on the Simian simplexviruses SA8, HVP-2 and B virus indicate that ICP0 (RL2) is the only gene with true IE kinetics. It is possible that in Simian Herpes viruses, ICP0 is necessary for the expression of all other viral genes, and to test this hypothesis I have cloned and expressed in Vero cells the ICP0 protein for the simian simplexvirus SA8 and studied its effect on the SA8 genes that are homologous to the immediate early genes in HSV. Results demonstrate that ICP0 does not appear to be sufficient to activate the transcription of the other IE genes but it is likely that ICP0 functionality is a necessary component in the activation process.

Human Herpes Simplex viruses and Simian Herpes Simplex viruses share a high degree of genome homology, but despite this, important differences arise when the viruses are compared at the level of gene expression and virulence in non-host primates. In Human Herpes viruses (HSV-1 and HSV-2); 5 genes (RL02, US01, RS01, UL54 and US12) are expressed with an immediate early kinetics, i.e. their transcriptional activation does not require de novo synthesis of host or viral factors. The five immediate early (IE) genes regulate the cascade of expression of the other early and late HSV genes. Literature indicates that in HSV-1 infections, ICP4, ICP27 and to a lesser extent, ICP0, are mandatory for the full expression of the early and late gene classes. In contrast, our data on the Simian simplexviruses SA8, HVP-2 and B virus indicate that ICP0 (RL2) is the only gene with true IE kinetics. It is possible that in Simian Herpes viruses, ICP0 is necessary for the expression of all other viral genes, and to test this hypothesis I have cloned and expressed in Vero cells the ICP0 protein for the simian simplexvirus SA8 and studied its effect on the SA8 genes that are homologous to the immediate early genes in HSV. Results demonstrate that ICP0 does not appear to be sufficient to activate the transcription of the other IE genes but it is likely that ICP0 functionality is a necessary component in the activation process.