Manipulation of stress related transcription factors to improve plant stress tolerance is a major goal of current biotechnology researches. MYC2 gene encodes a key stress-related transcription factor involved in Jasmonate (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) signaling pathways in Arabidopsis. Brassica napus, as a globally important oilseed crop, is a close relative of Arabidopsis.  In the present study...

Hop stunt viroid (HSVd), a significant pathogen of some hop cultivars, was detected for the first time in hops Australia. Plants were tested graft-transmissible pathogens prior to their use research trials. Upon observing symptoms indicative potential infection, RNA extracted and amplified using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR); HSVd identity confirmed by sequencing.

Assembly of a hepatitis B virus (HBV) virion begins with the formation of an RNA-filled core composed of a symmetrical capsid (built of core protein), viral pregenomic RNA, and viral reverse transcriptase. To generate the circular dsDNA genome of HBV, reverse transcription requires multiple template switches within the confines of the capsid. To date, most anti-HBV therapeutics target this reve...

A fundamental step in the replication of retroviruses is the reverse transcription of the viral RNA genome into a double-stranded DNA provirus. Retroviruses are believed to carry genomic information only as RNA, and synthesis of DNA is thought to start only after virus entry into the infected cell. We report here that infectious mature human immunodeficiency virus type 1 virions contain viral D...

Hallmarks of the hepadnavirus replication cycle are the formation of covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) and the reverse transcription of a pregenomic RNA (pgRNA) in core particles leading to synthesis of the relaxed circular DNA (rcDNA) genome. cccDNA, the template for viral RNA transcription, is the basis for the persistence of these viruses in infected hepatocytes. In this review, we sum...