A robust cell envelope is the first line of defense in infectious pathogens when encountering host immune defenses. In Gram-positive bacteria, LytR-CpsA-Psr (LCP) family proteins play a major role synthesis and assembly envelope. The bacterium S. pyogenes causes wide range diseases from pharyngitis to septicemia, but involvement LytR wall this not clear. Therefore, we investigated whether pyoge...

In the era of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART), HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) account for 40 to 56% of all HIV+ cases. During the acute stage of HIV-1 infection (<6 months), the virus invades and replicates within the central nervous system (CNS). Compared to peripheral tissues, the local CNS cell population expresses distinct levels of chemokine receptors, which levels e...

Addressing the envelope for gene delivery ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Richard J. O’Reilly1 1MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER In this issue of Blood, Zhou et al describe a strategy for modifying the envelope proteins of a lentiviral vector to display a single chain antibody fragment, or ScFv, specific for CD...

SL3-2 is a polytropic murine leukemia virus with a limited species tropism. We cloned the envelope gene of this virus, inserted it into a bicistronic vector, and found that the envelope protein differs from other, similar envelope proteins that also utilize the polytropic receptor (Xpr1) in that it is severely impaired in mediating infection of human and mink cells. We found that two adjacent a...

It is well established that the nuclear envelope has many distinct direct connections to chromatin that contribute to genome organization. The functional consequences of genome organization on gene regulation are less clear. Even less understood is how interactions of lamins and nuclear envelope transmembrane proteins (NETs) with chromatin can produce anchoring tethers that can withstand the ph...

Human sperm protein associated with the nucleus on the X chromosome consists of a five-member gene family (SPANXA1, SPANXA2, SPANXB, SPANXC and SPANXD) clustered at Xq27.1. Evolved from an ancestral SPANX-N gene family (at Xq27 and Xp11) present in all primates as well as in rats and mice, the SPANXA/D family is present only in humans, bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas. Among hominoid-specific ...

Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) infection can cause tumors and immunosuppression. Endogenous viruses integrate into host genomes and can recombine with exogenous avian leukosis virus (ALV). In this study, we analyzed the interaction of endogenous retrovirus 21 (ev21) with the ALV-J in late-feathering Chinese yellow chicken. Two ALV-J strains M180 and K243 were isolated from late-feather...