scholarly journals Discovery and Prevalence of Divergent RNA Viruses in European Field Voles and Rabbits

Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theocharis Tsoleridis ◽  
Joseph G. Chappell ◽  
Elodie Monchatre-Leroy ◽  
Gérald Umhang ◽  
Mang Shi ◽  
...  

The advent of unbiased metagenomic virus discovery has revolutionized studies of virus biodiversity and evolution. Despite this, our knowledge of the virosphere, including in mammalian species, remains limited. We used unbiased metagenomic sequencing to identify RNA viruses in European field voles and rabbits. Accordingly, we identified a number of novel RNA viruses including astrovirus, rotavirus A, picorna-like virus and a narmovirus (paramyxovirus). In addition, we identified a sobemovirus and a novel luteovirus that likely originated from the rabbit diet. These newly discovered viruses were often divergent from those previously described. The novel astrovirus was most closely related to a virus sampled from the rodent-eating European roller bird (Coracias garrulous). PCR screening revealed that the novel narmovirus in the UK field vole had a prevalence of approximately 4%, and shared common ancestry with other rodent narmoviruses sampled globally. Two novel rotavirus A sequences were detected in a UK field vole and a French rabbit, the latter with a prevalence of 5%. Finally, a highly divergent picorna-like virus found in the gut of the French rabbit virus was only ~35% similar to an arilivirus at the amino acid level, suggesting the presence of a novel viral genus within the Picornaviridae.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas I. Gonzales ◽  
Kate Westgate ◽  
Tessa Strain ◽  
Stefanie Hollidge ◽  
Justin Jeon ◽  
...  

AbstractCardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with mortality and cardiovascular disease, but assessing CRF in the population is challenging. Here we develop and validate a novel framework to estimate CRF (as maximal oxygen consumption, VO2max) from heart rate response to low-risk personalised exercise tests. We apply the method to examine associations between CRF and health outcomes in the UK Biobank study, one of the world’s largest and most inclusive studies of CRF, showing that risk of all-cause mortality is 8% lower (95%CI 5–11%, 2670 deaths among 79,981 participants) and cardiovascular mortality is 9% lower (95%CI 4–14%, 854 deaths) per 1-metabolic equivalent difference in CRF. Associations obtained with the novel validated CRF estimation method are stronger than those obtained using previous methodology, suggesting previous methods may have underestimated the importance of fitness for human health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Kohl ◽  
Annika Brinkmann ◽  
Aleksandar Radonić ◽  
Piotr Wojtek Dabrowski ◽  
Kristin Mühldorfer ◽  
...  

AbstractBats are known to be reservoirs of several highly pathogenic viruses. Hence, the interest in bat virus discovery has been increasing rapidly over the last decade. So far, most studies have focused on a single type of virus detection method, either PCR, virus isolation or virome sequencing. Here we present a comprehensive approach in virus discovery, using all three discovery methods on samples from the same bats. By family-specific PCR screening we found sequences of paramyxoviruses, adenoviruses, herpesviruses and one coronavirus. By cell culture we isolated a novel bat adenovirus and bat orthoreovirus. Virome sequencing revealed viral sequences of ten different virus families and orders: three bat nairoviruses, three phenuiviruses, one orbivirus, one rotavirus, one orthoreovirus, one mononegavirus, five parvoviruses, seven picornaviruses, three retroviruses, one totivirus and two thymoviruses were discovered. Of all viruses identified by family-specific PCR in the original samples, none was found by metagenomic sequencing. Vice versa, none of the viruses found by the metagenomic virome approach was detected by family-specific PCRs targeting the same family. The discrepancy of detected viruses by different detection approaches suggests that a combined approach using different detection methods is necessary for virus discovery studies.


1998 ◽  
Vol 334 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geng-Sheng YU ◽  
Yi-Chun LU ◽  
Tod GULICK

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT-I) catalyses the rate-determining step in mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation. The enzyme has two cognate structural genes that are preferentially expressed in liver (α) or fat and muscle (β). We hypothesized the existence of additional isoforms in heart to account for unique kinetic characteristics of enzyme activity in this tissue. Hybridization and PCR screening of a human cardiac cDNA library revealed the expression of two novel CPT-I isoforms generated by alternative splicing of the CPT-Iβ transcript, in addition to the β and α cDNA species previously described. Ribonuclease protection and reverse transcriptase-mediated PCR assays confirmed the presence of mRNA species of each splicing variant in heart, skeletal muscle and liver, with differing relative concentrations in the tissues. The novel splicing variants omit exons or utilize a cryptic splice donor site within an exon. Deduced polypeptide sequences of the novel enzymes include omissions in the region of putative membrane-spanning and malonyl-CoA regulatory domains compared with the previously described CPT-Is, implying that the encoded enzymes will exhibit unique features with respect to outer mitochondrial membrane topology and response to physiological and pharmacological inhibitors.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Jacob Thomson

This study analyses the use of hedges in English texts written by year nine[1] pupils attending Norwegian lower secondary schools. Hedges are quantified in a corpus of 82 pupil texts using a taxonomy consisting of five hedging categories: Adaptors, Rounders, Plausibility Shields, Explicit Markers of Author Involvement and Verbal Fillers (Prince et al., 1980; Salager-Meyer, 1994; Holmes, 1986). As the pupils are school-level second language learners of English, each device is also deemed to be either accurately or inaccurately used based on grammar, well-formedness and appropriateness (Fetzer, 2004). The analyses are compared across topic, holistic ratings and formality. Texts in the corpus are written about two topics: sports and literary analyses of the novel Holes (Sachar, 1998). Texts about sports contain significantly more hedges than texts about Holes. Comparing accurate and inaccurate categories across holistic ratings, different results were produced when considering topic. Informally written texts about sports contain higher frequencies of accurately used devices than formally written texts about sports. The results suggest that topic and formality are the most significant factors affecting hedging use in this corpus. While hedging frequency overall does not seem to correlate with holistic ratings, overuse and inaccurate use of hedges seems to affect quality. Based on the results, it is argued that pupils may benefit from exposure to a wide range of accurately used devices. [1] “Year 9” is a term usually used in the UK, synonymous with “9th grade” used in the United States, for pupils aged 13-14.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 13740-13753

An escalating pandemic by the novel SARS-CoV2 is spreading across the globe at a rate. An urgent need for therapy is needed. Initially, the virus appeared first in Wuhan, China, and later approximately in 187 countries worldwide. Coronaviruses are causative of respiratory as well as neurological diseases in humans. The novel zoonotic disease-causing coronaviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses. The coronavirus's outer structure consists of spike protein made up of glycoproteins, which binds to ACE (Angiotensin Converting Enzyme) protein when infected in humans. In the current study, 37 compounds that are already used in the biological field as anti-viral compounds are observed with bioinformatics tools. The repurposing drugs are docked against the spike receptor by molecular Docking. The ligand structure and the receptor structure are retrieved from Protein Data Bank. Patch dock server is an open freeware available for docking procedures. The results include acceleration and score of matched properties showing the feasibility of working the drug against SARS-nCoV. For the visualization of the final docked product, PyMOL and RasWin software’s are used. The scores of each ligand docked against the receptor show the compatibility working against the COVID-19 disease.


2014 ◽  
Vol 205 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek K. Tracy ◽  
Dan W. Joyce ◽  
Sukhwinder S. Shergill

Drugs and violence are often observed as bedfellows; both have been associated with psychosis but the nature and timing of their relationships remains unclear. As part of the UK Prisoner Cohort Study, Keers et al prospectively followed up 967 prisoners convicted of sexual or violent offences (about a quarter of whom had a psychotic illness) in the community after release. Schizophrenia was associated with greater rates of violence, but the risk was mediated by untreated psychosis or when presenting with persecutory delusions – and no other definable psychopathology. Interestingly, drug-induced psychosis did not increase the risk of violence per se, once the substance misuse itself was accounted for. Does treatment have an impact on risk of violence in a population-based sample of patients with psychosis? Fazel et al demonstrated reductions in violent crime in patients during the time they were prescribed antipsychotics. Interestingly, the rates of violent crime were also reduced in patients with bipolar disorder who received mood stabilisers. Therefore, in addition to the effects of antipsychotics and mood stabilisers on relapse rates, their potential effects on violence and crime could be used to make decisions about management for these groups of patients. There is a clearer need for the appropriate treatment of prisoners with psychotic illnesses if their risk of violence is to be moderated. Cannabis is one of the most commonly used social drugs worldwide; it increases risk of psychosis, but there has been little to offer pharmacologically to those dependent upon this most prevalent illicit drug, and various trials of mood stabilisers, antidepressants and α2 adrenergic agonists have generally been disappointing. Allsop et al evaluated the novel cannabis extract nabiximols, containing cannabidiol – which has been shown to attenuate paranoia and euphoria – and tetrahydrocannabinol, delivered as a buccal spray. The active drug group showed statistically significant benefits in reduced withdrawal irritability, depression and cravings and remained longer in treatment. However, both placebo and drug groups showed reduced cannabis use at follow-up, with placebo being as effective as nabiximols in promoting longer-term cessation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (23) ◽  
pp. 12957-12966 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Smith ◽  
M. S. Gibson ◽  
R. S. Wash ◽  
F. Ferrara ◽  
E. Wright ◽  
...  

Interferon-inducible transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3) is an effector protein of the innate immune system. It confers potent, cell-intrinsic resistance to infection by diverse enveloped viruses bothin vitroandin vivo, including influenza viruses, West Nile virus, and dengue virus. IFITM3 prevents cytosolic entry of these viruses by blocking complete virus envelope fusion with cell endosome membranes. Although the IFITM locus, which includesIFITM1, -2, -3, and -5, is present in mammalian species, this locus has not been unambiguously identified or functionally characterized in avian species. Here, we show that the IFITM locus exists in chickens and is syntenic with the IFITM locus in mammals. The chicken IFITM3 protein restricts cell infection by influenza A viruses and lyssaviruses to a similar level as its human orthologue. Furthermore, we show that chicken IFITM3 is functional in chicken cells and that knockdown of constitutive expression in chicken fibroblasts results in enhanced infection by influenza A virus. ChickenIFITM2and -3are constitutively expressed in all tissues examined, whereasIFITM1is only expressed in the bursa of Fabricius, gastrointestinal tract, cecal tonsil, and trachea. Despite being highly divergent at the amino acid level, IFITM3 proteins of birds and mammals can restrict replication of viruses that are able to infect different host species, suggesting IFITM proteins may provide a crucial barrier for zoonotic infections.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dayton Dove ◽  
Rachel Nanson ◽  
Lilja Bjarnadóttir ◽  
Janine Guinan ◽  
Joana Gafeira ◽  
...  

<p>In 2016, through a collaboration between marine mapping programmes in Norway, Ireland, and the UK, we published a new classification scheme to aid the characterisation of seabed geomorphology (Dove et al., 2016). The classification scheme was developed to address shared objectives and challenges in seabed mapping, particularly to enable more consistent classification where required. The novel aspect of this framework was the effort to independently describe seabed features according to their observed physical 1-Morphology, and the more subjective interpretation of their origin and evolution (2-Geomorphology). Initial application of the approach within our own groups and externally proved promising, and through the welcome involvement of colleagues from Geoscience Australia, we continued to progress and improve the approach.</p><p>We are now within the second phase of the project, which involves the development of glossaries for both parts of the classification scheme. The glossary for part-1 Morphology was recently completed and published (Dove et al., 2020). This glossary includes a revised list of feature names, with definitions and representative diagrams for each feature. Feature definitions are in-part drawn from the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) guide for undersea feature names, which were modified and augmented with additional terms to ensure the final feature catalogue and glossary encompasses the diversity of morphologies observed at the seabed.</p><p>Part-2 Geomorphology glossary is now in development. We anticipate it to be more complicated than the Morphology glossary due to the (often) variable meaning of different terms between different fields and individual scientists. But as for Part 1, our primary objective is to produce a useful and robust framework (applicable from the coastal zone to the abyss), that minimises duplication and/or ambiguity as much as possible. The Geomorphology glossary will include example bathymetry images to add further value.</p><p>Dove, D., Bradwell, T., Carter, G., Cotterill, C., Gafeira Goncalves, J., Green, S., Krabbendam, M., Mellett, C., Stevenson, A., Stewart, H. and Westhead, K., Scott, G., Guinan, J., Judge, M., Monteys, X., Elvenes, S., Maeten, N., Dolan, M., Thorsnes, T., Bjarnadottir, L., Ottesen, D., 2016. Seabed geomorphology: a two-part classification system. British Geological Survey, Open Report OR/16/001.</p><p>Dove, D., Nanson, R., Bjarnadóttir, L.R., Guinan, J., Gafeira, J., Post, A., Dolan, M.F.J., Stewart, H., Arosio, R. and Scott, G., 2020. A two-part seabed geomorphology classification scheme:(v. 2). Part 1: morphology features glossary.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel C. B. Stubbs ◽  
Osbourne Quaye ◽  
Maame Ekua Acquah ◽  
Samuel Mawuli Adadey ◽  
Iain R. L. Kean ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The introduction of rotavirus A vaccination across the developing world has not proved to be as efficacious as first hoped. One cause of vaccine failure may be infection by zoonotic rotaviruses that are very variable antigenically from the vaccine strain. However, there is a lack of genomic information about the circulating rotavirus A strains in farm animals in the developing world that may be a source of infection for humans. We therefore screened farms close to Accra, Ghana for animals sub-clinically infected with rotavirus A and then sequenced the virus found in one of these samples. Results 6.1% of clinically normal cows and pigs tested were found to be Rotavirus A virus antigen positive in the faeces. A subset of these (33.3%) were also positive for virus RNA. The most consistently positive pig sample was taken forward for metagenomic sequencing. This gave full sequence for all open reading frames except segment 5 (NSP1), which is missing a single base at the 5′ end. The virus infecting this pig had genome constellation G5-P[7]-I5-R1-C1-M1-A8-N1-T7-E1-H1, a known porcine genotype constellation. Conclusions Farm animals carry rotavirus A infection sub-clinically at low frequency. Although the rotavirus A genotype discovered here has a pig-like genome constellation, a number of the segments most closely resembled those isolated from humans in suspected cases of zoonotic transmission. Therefore, such viruses may be a source of variable gene segments for re-assortment with other viruses to cause vaccine breakdown. It is recommended that further human and pig strains are characterized in West Africa, to better understand this dynamic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 3275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoocher Soleimani

Coronaviruses (CoVs), including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and the novel coronavirus disease-2 (SARS-CoV-2) are a group of enveloped RNA viruses that cause a severe respiratory infection which is associated with a high mortality [...]


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