Apologies to @samjwilsonphd.bsky.social who had a beautiful paper on febrile temperature and avian flu replication come out after this was in press: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Comparative studies in species with different baseline temperatures and lifestyles could offer a window into temperature-dependent antiviral gene function. This is challenging to study as temp as a significant impact on pathogen replication.
I speculate that selection for antiviral gene function may occur at febrile temps yet most mechanistic studies evaluate function at basal temps. This could leave us with a blind spot in how antiviral genes function and have evolved.
Put a perspective piece together on how fever may have driven the evolution of antiviral genes: rupress.org/jem/article/...
Prenylated human ZAP and mammalian KHNYN can independently restrict naturally CpG-enriched ROSV. Top: CpG content of retroviruses (ROSV in black, ROSV-mCherry reporter virus in pink dashed line, MLV in orange, and HIV-1 in blue) calculated as # CpG per 100 nucleotides over a sliding window (graph). Schematic of retrovirus open reading frame (ORF) organization (top). Bottom left: Retroviral assembly and single-cycle infectivity results of human ZAP-L, ZAP-S, and mutants effects on ROSV showing relative percent ROSV infected cells (% mCherry-positive; % mCh+) as determined by flow cytometry. DF-1 cells transfected with increasing plasmid amounts of indicated host proteins (100, 200, or 400 ng), 1,500 ng ROSV, and 200 ng VSV-G. Infectivity is relative to backbone pcDNA3.2 transfections (Mock). Below, western blots detecting ROSV cleaved Gagp19 in supernatant virions as well as full-length ROSV GagPr76, ZAP proteins, and ACTIN loading controls from cellular lysates. Bottom right: Retroviral assembly and single-cycle infectivity results of human KHNYN, mutants, and mammalian KHNYN homologs (from pig, dog, and platypus) on ROSV infectivity. Below, western blots detecting ROSV cleaved Gagp19 in supernatant virions as well as full-length ROSV GagPr76, human KHNYN proteins, and ACTIN loading controls from cellular lysates. Note mammalian KHNYN orthologues were not detected by human KHNYN antibodies.
What are the #antiviral barriers to cross-species transmission of #zoonotic #influenza A viruses? @jordanbeckerphd.bsky.social @langloislab.bsky.social &co show that CpG-enriched avian #viruses are restricted by several mammalian proteins, including ZAP & KHNYN @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/47fkMVp
Excited to announce that we have a new faculty search opening in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Minnesota for a tenure track Assistant Professor in RNA Virology. More info can be found here: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...
@joelrc.bsky.social 's paper on differences between the seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 lineages in their relative capacity to antagonize IFN induction and signaling at the single cell level is out now in PLOS Pathogens:
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
This is the exact kind of outside the box thinking we're looking for! You're double hired!
Excited for my first bluesky post announcing TWO openings for tenure track positions in virology! I am chair of the search committee and with a new department head Mike Gale we are in an exciting building phase.
Please share with anyone who might be interested: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...
