ABSTRACT: Genetic diversity and evolutionary dynamics of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEEV) and Madariaga Virus (MADV) circulating within and between mosquitos and horse populations
Project description:Through the use of proteomic analysis of 32 dental calculus samples from anceint Mongolia, we show that ruminant dairying was present in Mongolia by at least 3000 B.C.E., over 1500 years prior to previously published work. Excitingly, the earliest site with dairy evidence has been identified as archaeologically Afanasievo, supporting the hypothesis that dairy practices and animals likely entered the Eastern steppe with migrating western steppe populations. Furthermore, at 1200 B.C.E. we detect the first direct evidence for horse milk consumption, demonstrating the Bronze Age origins of equine dairying on the eastern steppe which occurred concomitantly with early evidence for horse bridling and riding in the region. The incorporation of horse milk and riding into early Mongolian subsistence strategies led to dramatic economic and demographic shifts that enabled the formation of the well-known steppe empires.
Project description:Human neuronal differentiation alters responsiveness to innate immune stimuli and virus infections. We used microarrays to examine the transcriptional responses of the human BE(2)-C neuroblastoma cell line to infection with western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV).
Project description:Most alphaviruses are transmitted by mosquito vectors and infect a wide range of vertebrate hosts, with a few exceptions. Eilat virus (EILV) in this genus is characterized by a host range restricted to mosquitoes. Its chimeric viruses have been developed as safe and effective vaccine candidates and diagnostic tools. Here, we investigated the interactions between these insect-specific viruses (ISVs) and mosquito cells, unveiling their potential roles in determining vector competence and arbovirus transmission. By RNA sequencing, we found that these ISVs profoundly modified host cell gene expression profiles. Two EILV-based chimeras, consisting of EILV’s nonstructural genes and the structural genes of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) or Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), namely EILV/CHIKV (E/C) and EILV/VEEV (E/V), induced more intensive transcriptome regulation than parental EILV and activated different antiviral mechanisms in host cells. We demonstrated that E/C robustly promoted antimicrobial peptide production and E/V strongly upregulated the RNA interference pathway components. This also highlighted the intrinsic divergences between CHIKV and VEEV, representatives of the Old World and New World alphaviruses. In contrast, EILV triggered a limited antiviral response. We further showed that initial chimera infections efficiently inhibited subsequent pathogenic alphavirus replication, especially in the case of E/V infection, which almost prevented VEEV and Sindbis virus (SINV) superinfections. Altogether our study provided valuable information on developing ISVs as biological control agents.
Project description:This series includes arrays from two separate experiments where the gene expression profile of mock treated L929 cells was compared to that of L929 cells that had been infected with wildtype versus nt3A mutant Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus replicon particles (VRP). Total RNA was isolated from all samples at 5 hour post-infection. Keywords: virus infection-induced gene expression changes
Project description:Human neuronal differentiation alters responsiveness to innate immune stimuli and virus infections. We used microarrays to examine the transcriptional responses of the human BE(2)-C neuroblastoma cell line to infection with western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV). Experiment Overall Design: Cultured BE(2)-C cells were differentiated with 10 uM all-trans retinoic acid (RA) for 3 weeks and infected with WEEV at an MOI=10 for 6 h, and Affymetrix Human Genome Array U133 Plus 2.0 chips were used to analyze transcript levels.
