Advances in Virology最新文献

{"title":"Impact of Specific Pattern Mutations on Plaque Formation and Attenuation Properties of Dengue Virus Serotype 3.","authors":"Panumas Sun-Arlee, Surat Punyahathaikul, Ekkarat Rodpai, Kunjimas Ketsuwan, Duangnapa Wanlayaporn, Sasiporn Ruangdachsuwan, Jukrapun Komaikul, Thitigun Jaimipuk, Sanjira Juntarapornchai, Chompunuch Boonarkart, Anan Jongkaewwattana, Sutee Yoksan, Prasert Auewarakul, Promsin Masrinoul","doi":"10.1155/av/9239020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/av/9239020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dengue fever is a major public health problem in several countries, including Thailand. The development of an effective dengue vaccine against all four serotypes is important for controlling the disease. An attenuated dengue-3 vaccine candidate, namely, DENV3-MBU-1, was derived from full-length cDNA-assembled segments based on the sequence of a prototype DENV3 vaccine candidate originating from the DENV3 strain 16562, which was passaged 30 times in primary green monkey kidney cells and four times in primary dog kidney cells. Compared to the parental DENV3-16562 sequence, this DENV3-MBU-1 contains seven nonsynonymous mutations in the premembrane (prM), envelope (E), and nonstructural proteins (NS2A, NS3, NS4). In this study, we aimed to characterize the mutations contributing to attenuation by generating different DENV3 mutants and evaluating their properties, including plaque formation and neurovirulence in mice. The DENV3-MBU-1 mutants, in which the NS proteins were reverted to those of the parental virus, exhibited an altered phenotype, manifested by changes in plaque size and virulence, resembling that of the parental virus. This suggests the important role of the NS segment in attenuation. Interestingly, the mutants of DENV3-MBU-1, in which only the structural proteins, but not the NS proteins were altered, showed changes in phenotype toward increased plaque size and neurovirulence. This suggests that attenuation may be influenced by specific combinations of mutations rather than single-point mutations. These findings, along with the attenuated DENV3 viruses generated, provide useful information for the development of a dengue vaccine.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"9239020"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13624709/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149102978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative Sequence Analysis of the Envelope Gene of Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus Vaccine Strain With Currently Circulating Field Strains.","authors":"Keerthi Kaje, Chandranaik B Marinaik, Amitha Reena Gomes, Apsana Rizwan, Jagadish Hiremath, Doddamane Rathnamma, Shrikrishna Isloor, Sharanagouda S Patil, M Archana","doi":"10.1155/av/6915402","DOIUrl":"10.1155/av/6915402","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The present study was undertaken with the objective of performing comparative sequence analysis of the envelope (E) gene of Kyasanur forest disease virus (KFDV) vaccine strain P9605 with the circulating field strains. The study was taken up as the currently used KFDV vaccine strain, KFDV P9605, was isolated in the 1960s. For this study, we designed two sets of primers targeting the complete amplification of the E gene of KFDV. The sequencing was performed by the Sanger method, and the deduced sequence of the vaccine virus was deposited in GenBank with accession number PX067005. This sequence obtained for the vaccine virus was aligned and compared with sequences of GenBank-deposited circulating field strains. We also performed comparative sequence analysis of the Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) vaccine seed virus having passaged twice in mouse brain with the vaccine seed virus passaged six times in mouse brain to investigate whether multiple passages in mouse brain will lead to genetic mutation in the immunologically important E gene. The phylogenetic analysis revealed seven amino acid mutations in the field strains at positions A123T, S158N, D178E, D239N, A313S, M429I, and G479A when compared with the vaccine strain. We did not find any mutations at the critical fusogenic segment (residues 98-113) in the E gene of currently circulating field strains compared to the vaccine seed virus. The study found no genetic variations in the E gene of the KFD virus passed two times and passed six times in mouse brain. We performed SWISS-MODEL homology modeling, AlphaFold protein analysis, and Ramachandran plot analysis to study the E protein structures and stability. The observations made in this study suggest slow evolutionary drift and conserved structural stability of the envelope gene of KFDV ever since its emergence 7 decades ago; however, the functional implications of these amino acid substitutions need further studies on their roles in viral infectivity, transmission, and impact on immunity.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"6915402"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13589198/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149007732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Loss of ENTV-2 RNA and Point Mutation of <i>Env</i> Gene in ENA-1 Cells During Successive Passages.","authors":"Mingxiao Li, Wenqing Guo, Ziyan Lin, Lingxu Li, Zhen Wang, Bingyan Wei, Guangjun Chang, Dawei Yao","doi":"10.1155/av/4909539","DOIUrl":"10.1155/av/4909539","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This study aimed to monitor the presence of enzootic nasal tumor virus 2 (ENTV-2) and the dynamic changes of the viral <i>env</i> gene during the successive passages of enzootic nasal adenocarcinoma (ENA) cells.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>ENA cells were passaged for 24 generations, and the supernatants and cell pellets were collected to extract RNA for monitoring viral presence. The ENTV-2 <i>env</i> gene was amplified by PCR, cloned, and sequenced to analyze nucleotide mutations in the <i>env</i> gene sequence across different passages.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The results showed that ENTV-2 RNA was consistently detected in ENA cells up to the 22nd passage, indicating sustained viral persistence within the cells, while its presence in the supernatant was unstable, suggesting possible regulation of viral release, although the underlying mechanism was not investigated. Further cloning and sequencing of the <i>env</i> gene from 11 passages revealed no deletions or insertions, but point mutations were observed, predominantly A ⟶ G substitutions, some of which led to amino acid changes. Notably, nonsense mutations W231 and W19 occurred in the 7th and 15th passages, respectively, resulting in premature truncation of the Env protein, while the Q168R substitution was consistently identified in the sequenced clones from all passages from Passage 5 through Passage 22. Structural predictions indicated that the Env protein maintained a conserved core structure with localized variations in non-transmembrane regions. These observations are consistent with possible structural fine-tuning, but functional validation is required.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study provides a descriptive account of sequence changes in the ENTV-2 <i>env</i> gene during serial passaging of ENA cells. The findings are hypothesis-generating and await experimental verification of their biological significance.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"4909539"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13501006/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148811745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genomic Surveillance and Phylogenetic Analysis of Influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 and A(H3N2) Viruses in Burkina Faso, 2024.","authors":"Cathérine Sawadogo, Assana Cissé, Nina Gouba, Abdoul Kader Ilboudo, Madi Savadogo, Moussa Lingani, Benjamin W O Kabore, Grissoum Tarnagda, Jean Bienvenue Ouoba, Emilie Dama, Anicet Dahourou, Sandrine Gampini, Hamed Ouedraogo, Zékiba Tarnagda","doi":"10.1155/av/6901688","DOIUrl":"10.1155/av/6901688","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Influenza is a major cause of acute respiratory infections worldwide. In tropical regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, influenza circulates year-round with irregular peaks, yet genomic data guiding prevention strategies remain limited. This study characterized the genetic diversity and seasonal dynamics of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and A(H3N2) viruses circulating in Burkina Faso in 2024.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to December 2024, including seven sentinel surveillance sites. Patients presenting with influenza-like illness or severe acute respiratory illness were enrolled. Respiratory specimens were tested by real-time RT-PCR. Influenza-positive samples with a cycle threshold ≤ 30 underwent whole-genome sequencing using Oxford Nanopore and Illumina platforms. Phylogenetic analyses and clade assignment were performed using MEGA Version 12.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Out of 2951 samples tested, 6.74% were positive for influenza viruses. Females had higher odds of influenza positivity than males (OR = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.11-1.98). A significantly higher risk of positivity was observed in the age groups of 5-15 years (OR = 1.67; 95% CI: 1.07-2.52; <i>p</i> = 0.02) and 25-50 years (OR = 2.54; 95% CI: 1.53-4.03; <i>p</i> < 0.001). Influenza A(H3N2) peaked in July, while A(H1N1)pdm09 peaked in October. Phylogenetic analysis of 43 genomes revealed co-circulation of multiple clades within both subtypes.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Influenza A viruses circulating in Burkina Faso in 2024 showed substantial genetic diversity, underscoring the need for continuous genomic surveillance to inform vaccine strain selection and public health strategies in tropical Africa.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"6901688"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13482033/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148786877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Molecular Characterization of Highly Pathogenic Marek's Disease Virus Strain in Vaccinated Iraqi Pullets.","authors":"Basim Mohamed Manswr, Mohammed Abdullah Hamad, Aws El-Muntaser H Ali, Firas R Jameel","doi":"10.1155/av/1389742","DOIUrl":"10.1155/av/1389742","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Marek's disease (MD) remains a severe economic concern in poultry industry globally despite decades of vaccination strategies. Particularly challenging are viral infections due to Marek's disease virus (MDV) (Gallid alphaherpesvirus 2, GaHV-2) strains that can escape immune defenses in areas that do not have access to molecular surveillance data.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study performed molecular epidemiology of MDV in Iraqi commercial poultry based on extensive characterization of circulating strains, quantification of subclinical infection in vaccinated flocks, and phylogenetic sequencing to determine evolutionary relationships with local isolates.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>A cross-sectional surveillance on five commercial layer pullet flocks given the CVI988 vaccine took place from March to June 2024. A combined sample of 250 birds (50 birds per flock) was collected from Alrashdia in Baghdad Province. In this study, estimates were made for samples based on 5% expected prevalence, 95% confidence level, and 3% precision. Pulpy feather follicles and tissues were isolated for molecular detection of MDV meq oncogene by PCR amplification with known primers. Sanger sequencing was performed later and phylogenetic reconstruction carried out using the maximum likelihood technique.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Prevalence of subclinical MDV was 3.2% (8/250) in surveyed flocks, with significant operational heterogeneity (0%-6%). One flock had an acute clinical outbreak, and 86.7% of birds afflicted during the surveillance period showed paralysis. Molecular analysis revealed genetically homogeneous strain (Iraq/Baghdad/2024) with 99.8% nucleotide identity to Iranian very virulent isolates, with clustering in the very virulent pathotype clade and high bootstrap support (98%).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This research describes the circulation of a very virulent, genetically uniform GaHV-2 strain capable of inducing vaccine breakthrough in Iraqi commercial poultry. The phylogenetic proximity to regional isolates suggests transboundary virus movement as a possible route of attack and highlights a gap in the level of molecular surveillance and optimization of Middle Eastern poultry production systems in immunization programs.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"1389742"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13426319/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148653009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prediction of Treatment Response in Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C Coinfected Patients Using a Leakage-Proof, Internally Validated Logistic Regression Pipeline.","authors":"Eisha Hamid, Ayesha Malik, Momna Arooj Malik, Maleha Asim, Javed Ashraf","doi":"10.1155/av/2578085","DOIUrl":"10.1155/av/2578085","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Coinfection of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus presents great difficulty in treatment procedures, especially in terms of prediction of the response to the direct-acting antiviral therapy. In view of this, developing adequate prediction models would play a vital role in ensuring better personalization and effectiveness in terms of treatment. The objective of this paper is to develop and validate prediction models for the identification of patients' responses to direct-acting antiviral therapy in chronic HBV/HCV coinfected patients following treatment completion. This retrospective clinical prediction study involved the use of medical records of 154 patients with HBV/HCV coinfection treated with the help of direct-acting antiviral therapy in Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Sixteen predictors were used to develop logistic regression models to predict treatment responses at 4 and 12 weeks. In addition, to counter the problems of class imbalance, the synthetic minority oversampling technique was applied to the datasets, while nested stratified cross-validation was used for hyperparameter tuning and model validation. Performance was evaluated through different performance metrics such as ROC-AUC, accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. The performance of the two models was very good at each endpoint. For the endpoint of 4 weeks, the ROC-AUC score was 0.858 (95% CI 0.746-0.942), the accuracy was 0.760, and the F1-score was 0.851. In the case of the 12-week endpoint, the ROC-AUC score was 0.850 (95% CI 0.769-0.916), the accuracy was 0.786, and the F1-score was 0.856. The important predictors were HCV genotypes, age, body mass index, hemoglobin, and liver function test results. Good model calibration was evident from the calibration graphs, which showed slight deviation from the ideal calibration line at both endpoints. The current study developed prediction models for treatment response in HBV/HCV coinfected patients based on clinical and laboratory information from baseline. The models showed very good internal validity, but the 12-week model performed slightly better than the 4-week model in terms of classification balance. Such models represent useful tools for decision-making in case of a personalized approach.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"2578085"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13347315/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148417929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Molecular and Clinical Screening of Selected Feline Viral Infections in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.","authors":"Sirwan Sleman, Basm Ali, Zaniar A Abass, Barham J Abdullah, Omed I Abid, Masood B Ameen, Rand Swara, Ali Sirwan","doi":"10.1155/av/5558740","DOIUrl":"10.1155/av/5558740","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study presents a new molecular epidemiology dataset on the prevalence of selected viral pathogens, including Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), feline calicivirus (FCV), and feline coronavirus (FCoV) (systemic feline infectious peritonitis [FIP]), in domestic cats in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan region, Iraq. From October 2024 to January 2025, a total of 145 clinically suspected cats aged 2-24 months presented to private veterinary hospitals were analyzed using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR) on blood, feces, oral swabs, and abdominal effusion. Our findings revealed that 86/145 (59.3%) cats were positive for at least one virus: FCoV (including FIP) was detected in 13/25 (52%) samples, FPV in 63/102 (61.8%), and FCV in 10/20 (50%). All categorical comparisons are presented with explicit numerical values (n and %), improving interpretability. Most positive cases were reported among younger cats (2-12 months). Additionally, infection prevalence was higher in nonvaccinated (25.9%) and stray cats (22.5%) compared with vaccinated cats (15.0%). Vaccination status was recorded; however, detailed vaccine type and schedule were not consistently available. These findings suggest a strong association between vaccination status and infection risk, underscoring the importance of immunization programs. This study establishes the first molecular baseline for feline viral infections in Sulaymaniyah and supports the development of targeted surveillance, vaccination strategies, and improved veterinary public health interventions in the region.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"5558740"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13312980/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148350279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Putative Novel Viruses in the Families <i>Lispiviridae</i> and <i>Rhabdoviridae</i> Detected in <i>Culex</i> and <i>Anopheles</i> Mosquitoes Collected at the São Paulo Zoo.","authors":"Lilian de Oliveira Guimarães, Roseane da Silva Couto, Geovani de Oliveira Ribeiro, Juliana Telles-de-Deus, Endrya do Socorro Foro Ramos, Vanessa Christe Helfstein, Vanessa Dos Santos Morais, Jesus Maia Dos Santos, Ramendra Pati Pandey, Vera Lucia Fonseca de Camargo-Neves, Antonio Charlys da Costa, Karin Kirchgatter, Élcio Leal","doi":"10.1155/av/8104754","DOIUrl":"10.1155/av/8104754","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Several viruses belonging to the order <i>Mononegavirales</i> are recognized as highly pathogenic in humans and are often associated with lethal disease outcomes. Prominent examples include human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV), Ebola virus (EBOV), rabies virus (RABV), and Marburg virus (MARV). In addition to their clinical severity, these viruses are considered potential biological threats due to their high transmissibility and virulence. In this study, we performed a metatranscriptomic analysis of <i>Culex</i> and <i>Anopheles</i> mosquitoes collected at the DBB (Diretoria de Biodiversidade e Biotecnologia), São Paulo, Brazil. Our analysis revealed viral sequences associated with two families within <i>Mononegavirales</i>: <i>Lispiviridae</i> and <i>Rhabdoviridae</i>. Phylogenetic analysis of the <i>Lispiviridae</i> sequences identified six variants, designated <i>CxLispV-SP_03</i>, <i>CxLispV-SP_09</i>, <i>CxLispV-SP_12</i>, <i>CxLispV-SP_13</i>, <i>CxLispV-SP_14</i>, and <i>CxLispV-SP_15</i>, that formed a strongly supported monophyletic clade with Canya virus, suggesting the discovery of a putative novel viral lineage. Examination of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) domains in these sequences confirmed the presence of essential catalytic motifs. In contrast, the detected rhabdoviruses exhibited greater genomic structural heterogeneity, including the presence of accessory protein domains. Pairwise comparisons based on RdRp amino acid identity delineated four distinct groups among these sequences, pointing to substantial evolutionary divergence within the sampled <i>rhabdovirus</i> diversity. Together, these findings contribute to the growing characterization of mosquito-associated mononegaviruses and provide a genomic foundation to support future surveillance efforts and public health risk assessments related to vector-borne viruses.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"8104754"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13315819/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148359001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Structural Insights Into the Nuclear Import of Marek's Disease Virus Large Tegument Protein.","authors":"Babu Kanti Nath, Renate H M Schwab, Camilla M Donnelly, Daryl Ariawan, Ole Tietz, Jade K Forwood, Subir Sarker","doi":"10.1155/av/8716375","DOIUrl":"10.1155/av/8716375","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Marek's disease (MD) is a highly contagious neoplastic disorder of poultry caused by MD virus (MDV; gallid alphaherpesvirus 2 [GaAHV2]). Infection results in profound immunosuppression, neurological dysfunction, and the development of malignant T-cell lymphomas. Continued viral evolution has produced increasingly virulent strains capable of partially or fully evading current vaccines, leaving few options for controlling emerging variants. This highlights the importance of identifying new antiviral targets, particularly those involved in the nuclear trafficking events essential for GaAHV2 replication. The UL36 large tegument protein of alphaherpesviruses contains N-terminal nuclear localization signals (NLSs) thought to guide capsid transport to the nuclear pore complex. However, the specific mechanism by which GaAHV2 UL36 engages the host nuclear import machinery remains unclear. In this work, we defined the NLS within the N-terminal region of GaAHV2 UL36 and characterized its interaction with importin proteins. Through high-resolution crystallography and quantitative binding assays, we pinpointed the residues and structural motifs within UL36 that mediate recognition by importin-α (IMPα) and compared their affinities across different IMPα isoforms. Our structural and biochemical data show that the predicted N-terminal NLS of GaAHV2 UL36 is essential for IMPα binding. These findings provide a detailed molecular framework for host-virus interactions during GaAHV2 nuclear entry and offer potential avenues for the development of targeted antiviral strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"8716375"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13284491/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148306674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"HIV-1 Genetic Diversity and Drug Resistance Mutations Among Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy in Nairobi County, Kenya.","authors":"Erickson Angiro, Musa Ngayo, Caroline Wahome, Juster Mungiria, Anthony Nyamache","doi":"10.1155/av/3854108","DOIUrl":"10.1155/av/3854108","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Kenya, a country with a significant number of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infected individuals, has adopted the World Health Organization's (WHO's) \"test and treat all\" strategy to reduce HIV-related deaths and new infections, aligning with the United Nations' Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (UNAIDS) 95-95-95 targets. In 2019, Kenya adopted the WHO's first-line antiretroviral Therapy (ART) recommendations, which include tenofovir/lamivudine/dolutegravir (TDF + 3TC + DTG) as a cost-effective regimen. Despite these efforts, new HIV infections and AIDS-related mortality continue in developing countries. This cross-sectional study investigated HIV-1 drug resistance mutations and subtypes among patients receiving ART in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study enrolled 227 HIV-1-infected patients for 12 months, with 42 out of the total 227 samples successfully amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). HIV-1 genotypic drug resistance was determined using an in-house sequencing method. Sociodemographic data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to summarize and describe the key characteristics of the dataset. The Stanford University HIV Drug Resistance algorithm was used to analyze drug resistance mutations, and phylogenetic analysis with MEGA 11 software assessed HIV-1 genetic diversity. The study identified key HIV-1 drug resistance mutations, including M184V (13.73%), K103N (9.8%), Y181C (4.9%), T215Y (4.9%), and D67N (4.9%). Phylogenetic analysis of the 42 sequences generated from the study demonstrated significant genetic diversity, with Subtype A being the most dominant at 69%, followed by Subtype D (23.8%), Subtype C (4.8%), and CRF10_CD (2.4%). This study provides crucial insights into the distribution of HIV-1 genotypes and the incidence of drug-resistance mutations among HIV-1 patients in Nairobi. These findings provide critical insights to guide policymakers and healthcare providers in optimizing the management and treatment of HIV-1 patients undergoing ART.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":"2026 ","pages":"3854108"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13261683/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148248800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}