Group A rotaviruses are the main cause of acute gastroenteritis in children throughout the world. The two outer capsid proteins, VP4 and VP7, define the P and G genotypes, respectively. Rotaviruses with P[8]G1, P[4]G2, P[8]G3 and P[8]G4 genotypes are predominant in infecting humans and the G9 genotype is emerging in most continents as the fifth most common G type worldwide. The inner capsid pro...

During the maturation of rotaviral particles, non-structural protein 4 (NSP4) plays a critical role in the translocation of the immature capsid into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum. Full-length NSP4 and a 22 amino acid peptide (NSP4(114-135)) derived from this protein have been shown to induce diarrhea in young mice in an age-dependent manner, and may therefore be the agent responsible f...

Rotavirus (RV) is the major etiologic agent of severe infantile gastroenteritis; its genome has 11 segments of double stranded RNA, encoding 12 proteins. The non-structural protein 4 (NSP4) encoded by segment 10 is multifunctional. The aim of this study is to analyze the selective pressure driving the NSP4 of RV, through the ratio of non-synonymous substitutions per synonymous substitutions (dN...

The membrane-associated alphavirus RNA replication complex contains four virus-encoded subunits, the nonstructural proteins nsP1 to nsP4. Semliki Forest virus (SFV) nsP1 is hydrophobically modified by palmitoylation of cysteines 418 to 420. Here we show that Sindbis virus nsP1 is also palmitoylated on the same site (cysteine 420). When mutations preventing nsP1 palmitoylation were introduced in...

To the Editor: Group A rota-viruses are the most common viral cause of acute gastroenteritis in young children. The most frequently detected group A rotavirus genotype coma large number of unusual G-P combinations have been reported, and among these is the rare G9P[4] genotype, which was identified in Brazil in the 1990s (2), and later reported infrequently elsewhere in Latin America (3). In 20...

abstract background and aims: the number of new cancer cases with considerable mortality is increasing worldwide. since the inability of current therapies in treatment of patients and prevention the progress of tumors with fewer side effects, implementation of new methods is needed. gene therapy has widespread systemic cytotoxic effects against tumor cells. rotavirus nsp4 has been shown to elic...

Bats are known reservoirs of viral zoonoses. We report genetic characterization of a bat rotavirus (Bat/KE4852/07) detected in the feces of a straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum). Six bat rotavirus genes (viral protein [VP] 2, VP6, VP7, nonstructural protein [NSP] 2, NSP3, and NSP5) shared ancestry with other mammalian rotaviruses but were distantly related. The VP4 gene was nearly identica...

Whereas neutrophil elastase, cathepsin G, and proteinase 3 have been known as granule-associated serine proteases of neutrophils for decades, a fourth member, called neutrophil serine protease 4 (NSP4), was just recently described and provisionally characterized. In this study, we identified NSP4 as a novel azurophil granule protein of neutrophils by Western blot analyses of subcellular fractio...

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 1.Alphaviruses ....................................................................................................................1 1.1.Alphavirus expression vectors ........................................................................ 1 1.2.Life cycle ...................