Identification of propranolol and derivatives that are chemical inhibitors of phosphatidate phosphatase as potential broad-spectrum fungicides.

Plant diseases cause enormous economic losses in agriculture and threaten global food security, and application of agrochemicals is an important method of crop disease control. Exploration of disease-resistance mechanisms and synthesis of highly bioactive agrochemicals are thus important research objectives. Here, we show that propranolol, a phosphatidate phosphatase (Pah) inhibitor, effectively suppresses fungal growth, sporulation, sexual reproduction, and infection of diverse plants.

Immunogenicity and protective efficacy in monkeys of purified inactivated Vero-cell SARS vaccine.

Background: In 2003, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) resulted in hundreds of infections and deaths globally. We aim to assess immunogenicity and protective efficacy of purified inactivated Vero-cell SARS vaccine in monkeys.

Methods: The cultures of SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) BJ-01 strain infected Vero cells were inactivated with beta-propiolactone.

[Study on the animal model for severe acute respiratory syndrome].

To screen small animals susceptible to SARS-CoV, five species of animals, including guinea pig, hamster, albino hamster, chicken and rat, were experimentally infected with SARS-CoV strain BJ-01 by different routes. On the basis of this, further cynomolgus and rhesus macaques were selected and experimentally inoculated SARS-CoV, the quality they serve as animal model for SARS was evaluated. The results showed that, all five species of small animals chosed were not susceptible to SARS-CoV, no characterized changes in clinical sign and histopathology were observed after infection, but from the lung samples of large rat and pig guinea, the genomic RNA of SARS-CoV could be detected by RT-PCR at day 14 post infection, this suggested that SARS-CoV could replicate in these animals.

Inactivated SARS-CoV vaccine prepared from whole virus induces a high level of neutralizing antibodies in BALB/c mice.

We tested the ability of inactivated SARS-CoV vaccine to induce neutralizing antibodies in BALB/c mice. The inactivated vaccine was prepared by SARS-CoV virus propagation in Vero cells, with subsequent beta-propiolactone inactivation and Sepharose 4FF column chromatography purification. One hundred forty BALB/c female mice were divided into seven groups of 20 mice each.

Preparation, characterization and preliminary studies of inactivated SARS-CoV vaccine.

A large quantity of SARS-CoV virus was proliferated in Vero cells, inactivated with β-propiolactone, then purified by Sepharose 4FF column chromatography to prepare inactivated vaccine. The vaccine was identified by Western blot, mass spectrographic analysis, ELISA and electron microscopy. The vaccine with or without aluminum hydroxide adjuvant was inoculated into female BALB/c mice at different dosages.