Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Univ., 2002. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brandeis University, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 29, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005. / Niren Murthy, Committee Member ; Andrš J. Garca̕, Committee Member ; Joseph M. Le Doux, Committee Chair ; Mark R. Prausnitz, Committee Member ; H. Trent Spencer, Committee Member. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 196 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical reference.

Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Nevirapine (NVP) is a cheap anti-retroviral drug used in poor countries worldwide, administered to pregnant women at the onset of labour to inhibit HIV enzyme reverse transcriptase. Viruses which may get transmitted to newborns are deficient in this enzyme, and HIV-1 infection cannot be established, thereby preventing mother to child transmission (MTCT). In some cases, babies get infected and positive selection for viruses resistant to nevirapine may be inferred. Positive selection can be inferred from sequence data, when the rate of nonsynonymous substitutions is significantly greater than the rate of synonymous substitutions. Unfortunately, it is found that available positive selection methods should not be used to analyse before- and after- NVP treatment sequence pairs associated with MTCT. Methods which use phylogenetic trees to infer positive selection trace synonymous and nonsynonymous substitutions further back in time than the short time duration during which selection for NVP occurred. The other group of methods for inferring positive selection, the pairwise methods, do not have appreciable power, because they average susbtituion rates over all codons in a sequence pair and not just at single codons. We introduce a simple counting method which we call the Pairwise Homologous Codons (PHoCs) method with which we have inferred positive selection resulting from NVP treatment in longitudinal HIV-1 reverse transcriptase sequences. The PHoCs method estimates rates of substitutions between before- and after- NVP treatment codons, using a simple pairwise method. / South Africa

Introduction :Les rétrovirus infectieux des vertébrés sont regroupés en 7 genres : les Alpharétrovirus, les Bétarétrovirus, les Gammarétrovirus, les Deltarétrovirus, les Epsilonrétrovirus, les Lentivirus et les Spumavirus. Le Human T-cell Leukemia virus (HTLV), un deltarétrovirus, et l'Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), un lentivirus, infectent l'homme. Des cas sporadiques d'infection par des spumavirus (virus Foamy) ont été décrits chez des personnes vivant en promiscuité avec des animaux infectés. Plusieurs éléments sont en faveur de l'existence de rétrovirus humains encore inconnus :-De nouvelles espèces de HTLV ont été découvertes récemment et de nombreux patients séroindéterminés compatibles avec la présence de nouvelles espèces de type HTLV ont été décrits. De plus la découverte d'un hypothétique nouveau rétrovirus le Xenotropic Murine Related retroVirus (XMRV) a recemment été discuté. De nombreuses pathologies humaines dites idiopathiques ont une symptomatologie très proche de maladies rétrovirales décrites chez les mammifères comme des maladies inflammatoires articulaires chroniques, des maladies inflammatoires des systèmes nerveux central et périphérique, des cytopénies, des syndromes myéloprolifératifs et des pathologies malignes. Une étiologie rétrovirale a, par exemple, été évoquée dans le syndrome de Kawasaki ou les anémies hémolytiques, mais sans avoir pu être formellement démontrée.-Le statut de super prédateur de l'homme rend la transmission inter-espèces possible.Toutes les recherches de nouveaux rétrovirus humains faites par le passé étaient basées sur des séquences communes à tous les rétrovirus, le gène de la polymérase ou la partie transmembranaire de la glycoprotéine d'enveloppe (Env). De ce fait, ces recherches ont été le plus souvent « parasitées » par les séquences endogènes rétrovirales ou des rétrovirus « contaminants ». Nous avons souhaité rechercher la présence de rétrovirus dans ces pathologies pédiatriques. Parallèlement, nous nous sommes intéressés aux (retro)virus pouvant se transmettre de la mère à l'enfant lors de l'allaitement. Méthode :Nous avons utilisé 2 méthodes pour rechercher des rétrovirus.1) PCR : Notre démarche cible paradoxalement la région la plus variable du génome des rétrovirus, Env, au niveau du RBD (pour Receptor-Binding Domain), domaine qui lie le récepteur d'entrée dans la cellule. Pour cela nous utilisons une méthode développée au laboratoire, basée sur des PCR dont les amorces sont constituées de courts motifs conservés, délimitant les domaines variables du RBD. Cette approche a déjà permis au laboratoire de mettre en évidence de nouveaux variants des PTLV (HTLV/STLV). Sur ce principe, nous avons ainsi conçu des amorces PCR pour la détection de RBD de deltarétrovirus bovin (Bovine Leukemia Virus) et infectant les primates (Prima T-Leukemia/Lymphoma Virus) ; de bêta rétrovirus infectant la souris (Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus) et des primates (Mason Pfizer Monkey Virus) et de gammaretrovirus infectant les félins/félidés (Feline Leukemia Virus), l'XMRV et un rétrovirus endogène porcin le PERV.2) mesure de l'activité reverse transcriptase de rétrovirus de type C au sein de liquides biologiques de patients malades. Résultats : Nous avons analysé en terme de patients 35 purpura thrombopénique immunologiques, 3 anémie hémolytique, 6 anémie arégénérative, 5 neutropénie, 1 aplasie médullaire idiopathique, 3 thrombocytose, 59 arthrite juvénile, 1 dermatomyosite, 9 purpura rhumatoïde, 4 syndrome de Kawasaki, 5 syndrome neurologique, 13 fièvre atypique, 3 leucose et 5 pathologies autres. Les recherches de rétrovirus par PCR et mesure d'activité reverse transcriptase se sont avérées négatives.Conclusion :Nous n'avons pas retrouvé de séquences rétrovirales au sein des échantillons analysés par ces deux techniques différentes. Cependant, ces résultats n'excluent pas l'hypothèse d'une étiologie rétrovirale. / The infectious mammalian retrovirus constituting seven species: Alpharetroviruses, betaretroviruses, gammaretroviruses, deltaretrovirus, epsilonretroviruses, lentiviruses and, spumaviruses. Human T-cell Leukemia virus (HTLV), a deltaretrovirus, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), a lentivirus, infect human. Sporadic cases of spumavirus (virus Foamy) infection have been described in persons living in promiscuity with infected animals. Recent Studies have shown the presence of an hypothetic gammaretrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia related virus (XMRV), its existence is actually discussed.There are some facts pointing to the existence of human retrovirus not yet known. -New HTLV species have been recently described and a number of sero-indeterminate patients are compatible with the presence of new HTLV species.-Many idiopathic human diseases have clinical presentation close to retroviral mammalian diseases: chronic inflammatory articular diseases, central nervous system inflammatory diseases, cytopenia, myeloproliferative syndromes and malignant pathologies. For example a retroviral aetiology have been discussed in Kawasaki syndrome and autoimmune haemolytic anemia even though a complete proof haven't been found. The super human predatory status makes the interspecies transmission possible. All the research in new human retrovirus done in the past was based in common sequencies of retroviruses like polymerase gene or the transmenbranair part of glycoprotein envelope gene (Env). Thus most of these researches have been compromise by HERV sequences or retroviral contaminants.We research retroviruses in these diseases. We also have been interested by putative (retr)viral itransmission by breast milk.Methodology1)PDR: We design primer based on the most variable region of retroviruses, the RBD (Receptor-Binding Domain), which is the domain of Env that links the cellular receptor responsible of the cellular entry. For this we used a patented method developed in our laboratory based on PCR whose primers are composed of short conservative sequences delimiting variable areas of RBD.This approach has already allowed discovering new PTLV (HTLV/STLV) variants known. As a result, we have designed PCR primers for RBD for all the known deltaretrovirus, Bovine Leukaemia Virus, (BLV) and also for the detection of gammaretrovirus feline leukaemia virus (FeLV), XMRV and Porcine Endogenous Retrovirus (PERV).2)We measure the reverse transcriptase activity to detect Type C retrovirus in body fluid.Results:We analysed in terms of patients 35 Immunologic thrombopenic purpura, 3 hemolytic anemia, 6 aregenerative anemia, 5 neutropenia, 1 aplastic anemia, 3 thrombocytosis, 59 Idiopathic juvenile arthritis, 1 dermatomyositis, 9 Henoch-Scholein diseases, 4 Kawasaki syndrome, 5 neurological diseases, 13 atypic fevers, 3 leukosis and 5 others diseases. We do not found any virus by both methodologies.We do not find viruses by PCR and reverse transcrptase activity measurment however this fact does not exclude viral etiology, further analysis could be done.

Retroviruses are obligate intracellular parasites that carry the information necessary for replication within their genomes. The three polyproteins, Gag, Pol, and Env, encoded by all retroviruses, function to generate progeny virions inside the host cell. Formation of new viral particles requires detailed instructions contained within the Gag polyprotein. Herein we describe our investigation into assembly of the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (M-PMV). During retrovirus assembly, the transition from immature to a fully infectious mature particle is associated with the operation of molecular switches that trigger dramatic conformational changes of the Gag proteins. A dominant maturation switch that stabilizes the immature capsid lattice is located in the C-terminus of the capsid (CA) protein in many retroviral Gags. The HIV-1 Gag contains a stretch of five amino acid residues termed the 'clasp motif', important for the organization of the hexameric subunits that provide stability to the overall immature HIV-1 shell. Sequence alignment of the CA C-terminal domains (CTDs) of the HIV-1 and M-PMV highlighted a spacer-like domain in M-PMV that may provide comparable function. In the present study we report an examination of the role of the clasp motif in the M-PMV life cycle. Our results demonstrate that claps motif mutants display major defects in virion assembly and release, and even larger defects in infectivity. Our data identifies the clasp motif as a fundamental contributor to CA-CTD interactions necessary for efficient viral infection. The retroviral life cycle, unlike that of any other viral family, leads to the obligate integration of a proviral DNA into the host genome of somatic cells and in some cases even into the germ line. This remarkable feature of the Retroviridae family of viruses accounts for their extraordinary persistence through time and widespread abundance among vertebrate hosts. Because retroviral infection can have serious consequences to the host, there is great selective pressure to evolve strong networks that act to control incoming viruses. In the second study presented here, we report a novel cofactor of an antiviral system, Riplet, which operates to augment HIV-1 restriction by ZAP. The zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is an interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) with potent intrinsic antiviral activity. ZAP inhibits replication of retroviruses including MLV and HIV-1, as well as alphaviruses, filoviruses, hepatitis B virus, etc. ZAP operates at the post-transcriptional stage, reducing the number of viral transcripts available for translation in the cytoplasm, although additional pathways might be at play. The exact mechanisms by which ZAP restricts viral replication are not fully understood. ZAP lacks enzymatic activity and utilizes other cellular proteins to suppress viral replication. TRIM25 and the nuclease KHNYN have been identified as ZAP cofactors, but its activity may well involve other cellular proteins. Here we identify Riplet, a protein known to play a central role in the activation of the retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I), as a novel ZAP cofactor that acts to augment ZAP’s antiviral activity. Our data demonstrates that Riplet significantly augments ZAP-mediated restriction of HIV-1. Additionally, we show that Riplet interacts with ZAP via its PRY/SPRY domain and that the ubiquitin ligase activity of Riplet is not required to stimulate ZAP-mediated inhibition. Moreover, we show that Riplet interacts with TRIM25 suggesting that both Riplet and TRIM25 may operate synergistically to augment ZAP-mediated inhibition of HIV-1. The intracellular tropism of viruses is determined by a diverse combination of host proteins that allow infection to proceed efficiently. To achieve successful infection the virus needs the contribution of numerous cellular factors that assist at various steps of the life cycle. Conversely, replication requires resistance to species-specific restriction factors that act to suppress virus infection. The replication of M-PMV has been found to be highly restricted in mouse cell lines. The mechanism underlying the restriction of M-PMV replication in mouse cells has not been characterized. In the third study presented here, we examined this potent post-entry block and performed an unbiased genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screen, selecting for knock-out of host factors that relieved the block. Our data identified several candidate genes that encode proteins involved in virus trafficking and innate immune activation.

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) originate by germline infection and subsequent mendelian inheritance of their exogenous counterparts. With notable exceptions, all mammalian ERVs are evolutionarily old and fixed in the population of its host species. Some groups of retroviruses were believed not to be able to form endogenous copies. We discovered an additional endogenous Lentivirus and a first endogenous Deltaretrovirus. Both of these groups were previously considered unable to form endogenous copies. Endogenous lentiviruses were discovered only recently and are still quite rare. These are still just small pieces of evidence insufficient to give a broader picture about the history of virus endogenization. We described a novel endogenous Lentivirus in the genome of Malayan colugo (Galeopterus variegatus) denoted ELVgv (endogenous Lentivirus of G. variegatus). Based on several analyses we proved that this is the oldest Lentivirus discovered up to date and confirmed its presence in the only other extant species of Dermoptera - Cynocephalus volans. Endogenous deltaretroviruses were the last group without a single endogenous member. We detected the remnants of endogenous Deltaretrovirus in the genome of Natal Long-fingered bat (Miniopterus natalensis). However, this sequence was present in the genome only in one...

Traditionally, viral particles have been primarily analyzed as a whole population according to their biochemical, genetic, and biophysical properties. Here, we describe single particle phenotypic analysis using surface markers found on Murine Leukemia Virus (MLV) by flow virometry. We used this technology to show differential incorporation of host surface markers between wild type MLV and glycosylated Gag (glycogag) deficient MLV. Moreover, we analyzed differential uptake efficiency of host proteins between two cell lines and primary lymphocytes. We hypothesize that the phenotypic profiling and quantification of antigens on the surface of individual viral particles will provide crucial information on the identity of the infected parental cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the MLV accessory protein glycogag is associated with the upregulation of surface antigen incorporation during assembly and release. Aside from possible evolutionary implications of glycogag, we demonstrate presence and varying antigenic composition on the surface of MLV viral particles reflective of the cell phenotype that they were released from.