BACKGROUND Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs), including scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids, transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME), and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), are fatal diseases of the nervous system associated with accumulation of misfolded prion protein (PrP(Sc)). Different strains of TSEs exist, associated with different PrP(Sc) confor...

UNLABELLED Tegument proteins pp150 and pUL96 function at a late step in cytomegalovirus (CMV) maturation. Here, we show that pp150 interacts directly with pUL96; however, the N-terminal region of pp150 and the C-terminal region of pUL96, which are critical for these proteins to function, are not required for this interaction. Moreover, the largely dispensable C-terminal region of pp150 is criti...

The tprK gene in Treponema pallidum undergoes antigenic variation. In all T. pallidum isolates examined to date, except the Nichols type strain, heterogeneous tprK sequences have been identified. This heterogeneity is localized to seven variable (V) regions, and tprK sequence diversity accumulates with serial passage in naïve rabbits. The T. pallidum Nichols genome described a single tprK seque...

There are many distinct strains of scrapie agent, identified by their relative incubation periods and quantitative and qualitative neuropathological properties in inbred mice of particular genotypes. When serially passaged under specified conditions of mouse strain, route of infection and dose of infectivity these properties are stable. However, they may change in a predictable manner if the pa...

The first report of replication of Riley's plasma enzyme-elevating virus (Riley virus) in tissue culture was by Yaffe (1), 2 years after the discovery of the virus in 1960 (2). Yaffe found that Riley virus multiplied in primary mouse embryo cultures until the death of the cultures through overcrowding (3 to 4 weeks), without producing cytopathic or other detectable changes, and could be seriall...

Loss of agr function, vancomycin exposure, and abnormal autolysis have been linked with both development of the GISA phenotype and low-level resistance in vitro to thrombin-induced platelet microbicidal proteins (tPMPs). We examined the potential in vitro interrelationships among these parameters in well-characterized, isogenic laboratory-derived and clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates. The...