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Designing a modified virus that can be controlled to replicate will facilitate the study of pathogenic mechanisms of virus and virus-host interactions. Here, we report a universal switch element that enables precise control of virus replication after exposure to a small molecule. Inteins mediate a traceless protein splicing-ligation process, and we generate a series of modified vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) with intein insertion into the nucleocapsid, phosphoprotein, or large RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of VSV. Two recombinant VSV, LC599 and LY1744, were screened for intein insertion in the large RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of VSV, and their replication was regulated in a dose-dependent manner with the small molecule 4-hydroxytamoxifen, which induces intein splicing to restore the VSV replication. Furthermore, in the presence of 4-hydroxytamoxifen, the intein-modified VSV LC599 replicated efficiently in an animal model like a prototype of VSV. Thus, we present a simple and highly adaptable tool for regulating virus replication.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1112580 | DOI Listing |
Med Int (Lond)
August 2025
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, P.R. China.
Punicalagin, a polyphenolic compound extracted from pomegranate peel, has received increasing attention in recent years due to its antibacterial and antiviral properties. Punicalagin is capable of inhibiting bacterial growth at sub-inhibitory concentrations by affecting cell membrane formation, disrupting membrane integrity, altering cell permeability, affecting efflux pumps, interfering with quorum sensing and influencing virulence factors. Additionally, punicalagin inhibits viruses by modulating enzyme activity, interacting with viral surface proteins, affecting gene expression, blocking viral attachment, disrupting virus receptor interaction and inhibiting viral replication.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Microbiol
August 2025
College of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, China.
Introduction: The Zika virus (ZIKV) envelope (E) protein is critical for viral replication and host interactions. Although glycosylation of the E protein is known to influence viral infectivity and immune evasion, the specific functional roles of E protein glycosylation in ZIKV infectivity in mosquito cells remain unclear.
Methods: In this study, we generated a deglycosylation mutant ZIKV with a T156I substitution in the E protein and investigated its effects on viral replication and viral-host interactions in mosquito C6/36 cells.
Natl Sci Rev
September 2025
School of Life Science, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
The role of cholesterol metabolism in antiviral immunity has been established, but if and how this cholesterol-mediated immunometabolism can be regulated by specific small molecules is of particular interest in the quest for novel antiviral therapeutics. Here, we first demonstrate that NPC1 is the key cholesterol transporter for suppressing viral replication by changing cholesterol metabolism and triggering the innate immune response via systemic analyses of all possible cholesterol transporters. We then use the Connectivity Map (CMap), a systematic methodology for identifying functional connections between genetic perturbations and drug actions, to screen NPC1 inhibitors, and found that bis-benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BBAs) exhibit high efficacy in the inhibition of viral infections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Vet Sci
August 2025
Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Immunology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Kunjin virus (KUNV), a naturally attenuated strain of West Nile virus (WNV), shares similar transmission modes and hosts-primarily mosquitoes, birds, and horses. Globally, reverse genetics is the principal methodology for characterizing the molecular etiology of flaviviruses. In this study, cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter-driven KUNV reporter replicons were engineered to incorporate three distinct reporter genes: Nanoluc, oxGFP, and mCherry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEMBO J
September 2025
New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Microbiology Department, New York, NY, USA.
Serine protease inhibitors (SERPINs) are involved in various physiological processes and diseases, such as inflammation, cancer metastasis, and neurodegeneration. Their role in viral infections is poorly understood, as their expression patterns during infection and the range of proteases they target have yet to be fully characterized. Here, we show widespread expression of human SERPINs in response to respiratory virus infections, both in bronchioalveolar lavages from COVID-19 patients and in polarized human airway epithelial cultures.
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