Article
Parasitology
Luis M. Romero-Vega, Marta Piche-Ovares, Claudio Soto-Garita, Daniel Felipe Barantes Murillo, Luis Guillermo Chaverri, Alejandro Alfaro-Alarcon, Eugenia Corrales-Aguilar, Adriana Troyo
Summary: This study describes and analyzes the community structure of mosquito vectors in Costa Rica. The results show that there are significant differences in mosquito populations in coastal areas of Costa Rica during different seasons. However, year-long continuous sampling is needed to better understand the local dynamics.
PARASITES & VECTORS
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Francesca Falconi-Agapito, Karen Kerkhof, Xiomara Merino, Johan Michiels, Marjan Van Esbroeck, Koen Bartholomeeusen, Michael Talledo, Kevin K. Arien
Summary: Dengue is a major public health problem in tropical and sub-tropical regions worldwide. Due to the high antigenic resemblance among the flavivirus family, serology-based diagnosis of dengue has become more problematic. A study using peptide microarray technology revealed that IgG antibody responses were broader in secondary infections, while IgM antibody responses were higher in primary infections.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Virology
Maria Fernanda de Castro-Amarante, Samuel Santos Pereira, Lennon Ramos Pereira, Lucas Souza Santos, Alexia Adrianne Venceslau-Carvalho, Eduardo Gimenes Martins, Andrea Balan, Luis Carlos de Souza Ferreira
Summary: This study evaluated the cross-inhibition effect of the DV2 peptide against Zika virus (ZIKV) and found that it efficiently inhibited ZIKV infectivity and reduced mortality in mice. These findings suggest that synthetic stem-based peptides have therapeutic potential against ZIKV infections.
Article
Virology
Graziely F. Cespedes, Thatyane M. Nobre, Osvaldo N. Oliveira, Dennis Bong, Eduardo M. Cilli
Summary: The study evaluated the impact of surrounding regions of fusion peptide on the interaction with the membrane and fusion activity in Dengue 2 subtype, finding the C-terminal region to be more efficient in promoting fusion and interacting with the membrane. A proposed 2-step mechanism for the interaction of dengue virus fusion peptide with the host membrane highlights the electrostatic docking of the N-terminal sequence and the hydrophobic interaction of the C-terminal region.
Article
Virology
Margarita Rangel, Nicholas Catanzaro, Sara A. Thannickal, Kelly A. Crotty, Maria G. Noval, Katherine E. E. Johnson, Elodie Ghedin, Helen M. Lazear, Kenneth A. Stapleford
Summary: This study identifies structurally conserved residues in class II fusion glycoproteins of alphaviruses and flaviviruses that contribute to common mechanisms of viral entry, dissemination, and infectious-virion production.
JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Koshiro Tabata, Yukari Itakura, Takuma Ariizumi, Manabu Igarashi, Hiroko Kobayashi, Kittiya Intaruck, Mai Kishimoto, Shintaro Kobayashi, William W. Hall, Michihito Sasaki, Hirofumi Sawa, Yasuko Orba
Summary: The fusion loop domain in flavivirus envelope protein is a dominant epitope for cross-reactive antibodies to mosquito-borne flaviviruses. This study introduces mutations in the fusion loop domain to reduce cross-reactivity and improve the accuracy of serodiagnosis for flavivirus infections.
APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Virology
Eneida Santos Oliveira, Naiara Clemente Tavares, Stella Garcia Colombarolli, Izabella Cristina Andrade Batista, Camila Sales Nascimento, Philip Louis Felgner, Rafael Ramiro de Assis, Carlos Eduardo Calzavara-Silva
Summary: Yellow Fever disease caused severe outbreaks in the Americas in recent years. In this study, peptides were designed and tested with sera collected from infected individuals, and one peptide was found to differentiate vaccinated individuals from naturally infected individuals.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Aoshi Kobayashi, Mayuko Hamada, Masa-Aki Yoshida, Yasuhisa Kobayashi, Naoaki Tsutsui, Toshio Sekiguchi, Yuta Matsukawa, Sho Maejima, Joseph J. Gingell, Shoko Sekiguchi, Ayumu Hamamoto, Debbie L. Hay, John F. Morris, Tatsuya Sakamoto, Hirotaka Sakamoto
Summary: VP/OT-related peptides play essential roles in antidiuresis, sociosexual behavior, and reproduction in mammals. This study identifies orthologous genes to VP/OT in planarians and characterizes the neuropeptide derived from this gene, naming it the platytocin system. The experiments suggest that platytocin functions as an antidiuretic hormone and also plays a role in reproduction and chemosensory behavior. The findings provide insights into the physiological adaptations of bilaterians to amphibious lives.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yan Wang, Nuraliya Ablimit, Yunpeng Zhang, Jifu Li, Xinrui Wang, Junquan Liu, Ting Miao, Lei Wu, Hui Wang, Zengli Wang, Huiqiang Lou, Wei Jiang
Summary: The novel MGLP_1 fusion peptide showed significant potential in ameliorating obesity and gut dysbiosis in a mouse model. MGLP_1 enhanced carbohydrate catabolism to improve gut microbiota imbalance, while MOS promoted glycan synthesis and metabolism, indicating different mechanisms for obesity improvement.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
(2021)
Review
Immunology
Kassandra L. Carpio, Alan D. T. Barrett
Summary: The Flavivirus genus includes many important human pathogens, with NS1 protein playing a crucial role as a diagnostic marker for flavivirus infection. Its roles in disease pathogenesis and protective immunity make NS1 an excellent target for candidate vaccines.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Haley S. Caldwell, Lili Kuo, Janice D. Pata, Alan P. Dupuis Ii, Jamie J. Arnold, Calvin Yeager, Jessica Stout, Cheri A. Koetzner, Anne F. Payne, Sean M. Bialosuknia, Elyse M. Banker, Taylor A. Nolen, Craig E. Cameron, Alexander T. Ciota
Summary: The most common arbovirus in the United States, West Nile virus (WNV), is transmitted between Culex spp. mosquitoes and birds. A specific mutation, NS3 P319L, was found to affect the adaptation of the virus to vertebrate hosts and its transmissibility by mosquitoes. This study highlights the importance of intrahost sequence data in understanding host-specific adaptation mechanisms.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Simone Zini, Marco Buzzelli, Simone Bianco, Raimondo Schettini
Summary: This paper presents an efficient combination strategy for color constancy algorithms by defining a compact neural network architecture to process and combine illuminant estimations of different assumptions. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms other strategies and achieves comparable accuracy to more sophisticated solutions.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTATIONAL IMAGING
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Gengxiang Zhao, Dalibor Kosek, Hong-Bing Liu, Shannon Ohlemacher, Brittney Blackburne, Anastasia Nikolskaya, Kira S. Makarova, Jiadong Sun, Clifton E. Barry, Eugene Koonin, Fred Dyda, Carole A. Bewley
Summary: Chryseoviridin, a newly discovered multicore RiPP, contains four consecutive five- or six-residue macrocycles ending with a microviridin-like core. The crystal structure reveals a significant conformational change in the B-domain of the ATP-grasp ligase CdnC upon substrate binding, providing insights into omega-ester bond formation in RiPP biosynthesis. Experimental validation confirms a model where macrocyclization occurs in the N- to C-terminal direction for core peptides containing multiple Thr/Ser-to-Asp macrocycles.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Virology
Richard Lindqvist, Caroline Benz, Vita Sereikaite, Lars Maassen, Louise Laursen, Per Jemth, Kristian Stromgaard, Ylva Ivarsson, Anna K. Overby
Summary: A novel broad spectrum antiviral inhibitor targeting the PDZ1 domain of host protein syntenin has been discovered, which effectively inhibits the infection of RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, chikungunya virus, and flavivirus.
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Somayeh Behrouz, Nikos Kuehl, Christian D. Klein
Summary: This study reports the design, synthesis, and in-vitro characterization of potent peptidic inhibitors of DENV protease with a sulfonyl moiety as N-terminal cap, creating sulfonamide-peptide hybrids. Some synthesized compounds showed in-vitro target affinities in the nanomolar range, with the most promising derivative achieving a Ki value of 78 nM against DENV-2 protease. The synthesized compounds had no relevant off-target activity or cytotoxicity, and exhibited remarkable metabolic stability against rat liver microsomes and pancreatic enzymes. Overall, the integration of sulfonamide moieties at the N-terminus of peptidic inhibitors proved to be a promising and attractive strategy for further drug development against DENV infections.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY
(2023)