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Aktürk Dizman Y. Analysis of codon usage bias of exonuclease genes in invertebrate iridescent viruses. Virology 2024; 593:110030. [PMID: 38402641 DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2024.110030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 02/04/2024] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Invertebrate iridescent viruses (IIVs) are double-stranded DNA viruses that belong to the Iridoviridae family. IIVs result diseases that vary in severity from subclinical to lethal in invertebrate hosts. Codon usage bias (CUB) analysis is a versatile method for comprehending the genetic and evolutionary aspects of species. In this study, we analyzed the CUB in 10 invertebrate iridescent viruses exonuclease genes by calculating and comparing the nucleotide contents, effective number of codons (ENC), codon adaptation index (CAI), relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU), and others. The results revealed that IIVs exonuclease genes are rich in A/T. The ENC analysis displayed a low codon usage bias in IIVs exonuclease genes. ENC-plot, neutrality plot, and parity rule 2 plot demonstrated that besides mutational pressure, other factors like natural selection, dinucleotide content, and aromaticity also contributed to CUB. The findings could enhance our understanding of the evolution of IIVs exonuclease genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yeşim Aktürk Dizman
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, 53100, Rize, Türkiye.
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2
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van Bree JW, Visser I, Duyvestyn JM, Aguilar-Bretones M, Marshall EM, van Hemert MJ, Pijlman GP, van Nierop GP, Kikkert M, Rockx BH, Miesen P, Fros JJ. Novel approaches for the rapid development of rationally designed arbovirus vaccines. One Health 2023; 16:100565. [PMID: 37363258 PMCID: PMC10288159 DOI: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Revised: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Vector-borne diseases, including those transmitted by mosquitoes, account for more than 17% of infectious diseases worldwide. This number is expected to rise with an increased spread of vector mosquitoes and viruses due to climate change and man-made alterations to ecosystems. Among the most common, medically relevant mosquito-borne infections are those caused by arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), especially members of the genera Flavivirus and Alphavirus. Arbovirus infections can cause severe disease in humans, livestock and wildlife. Severe consequences from infections include congenital malformations as well as arthritogenic, haemorrhagic or neuroinvasive disease. Inactivated or live-attenuated vaccines (LAVs) are available for a small number of arboviruses; however there are no licensed vaccines for the majority of these infections. Here we discuss recent developments in pan-arbovirus LAV approaches, from site-directed attenuation strategies targeting conserved determinants of virulence to universal strategies that utilize genome-wide re-coding of viral genomes. In addition to these approaches, we discuss novel strategies targeting mosquito saliva proteins that play an important role in virus transmission and pathogenesis in vertebrate hosts. For rapid pre-clinical evaluations of novel arbovirus vaccine candidates, representative in vitro and in vivo experimental systems are required to assess the desired specific immune responses. Here we discuss promising models to study attenuation of neuroinvasion, neurovirulence and virus transmission, as well as antibody induction and potential for cross-reactivity. Investigating broadly applicable vaccination strategies to target the direct interface of the vertebrate host, the mosquito vector and the viral pathogen is a prime example of a One Health strategy to tackle human and animal diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joyce W.M. van Bree
- Laboratory of Virology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Imke Visser
- Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Jo M. Duyvestyn
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | | | - Eleanor M. Marshall
- Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Martijn J. van Hemert
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Gorben P. Pijlman
- Laboratory of Virology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | | | - Marjolein Kikkert
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Barry H.G. Rockx
- Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Pascal Miesen
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9101, 6500, HB, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Jelke J. Fros
- Laboratory of Virology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands
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Qin L, Ding S, He Z. Compositional biases and evolution of the largest plant RNA virus order Patatavirales. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 240:124403. [PMID: 37076075 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2022] [Revised: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2023] [Indexed: 04/21/2023]
Abstract
Patatavirales is the largest order of plant RNA viruses and exclusively contains the family Potyviridae, accounting for 30 % of all known plant viruses. The composition bias of animal RNA viruses and several plant RNA viruses has been determined. However, the comprehensive nucleic acid composition, codon pair usage patterns, dinucleotide preference and codon pair preference of plant RNA viruses have not been investigated to date. In this study, integrated analysis and discussion of the nucleic acid composition, codon usage patterns, dinucleotide composition and codon pair bias of potyvirids were performed using 3732 complete genome coding sequences. The nucleic acid composition of potyvirids was significantly enriched in A/U. Interestingly, the A/U-rich nucleotide composition of Patatavirales is essential for determining the preferred A-ended and U-ended codons and the overexpression of UpG and CpA dinucleotides. The codon usage patterns and codon pair bias of potyvirids were significantly correlated with their nucleic acid composition. Additionally, the codon usage pattern, dinucleotide composition and codon-pair bias of potyvirids are more dependent on the classification of the virus compared with their hosts. Our analysis provides a better understanding of future research on the origin and evolution patterns of the order Patatavirales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lang Qin
- College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Wenhui East Road No.48, Yangzhou 225009, Jiangsu Province, PR China
| | - Shiwen Ding
- College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Wenhui East Road No.48, Yangzhou 225009, Jiangsu Province, PR China
| | - Zhen He
- College of Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Wenhui East Road No.48, Yangzhou 225009, Jiangsu Province, PR China.
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Berkhout B, van Hemert FJ. Silent codon positions in the A-rich HIV RNA genome that do not easily become A: Restrictions imposed by the RNA sequence and structure. Virus Evol 2022; 8:veac072. [PMID: 36533144 PMCID: PMC9752802 DOI: 10.1093/ve/veac072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Revised: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
There is a strong evolutionary tendency of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to accumulate A nucleotides in its RNA genome, resulting in a mere 40 per cent A count. This A bias is especially dominant for the so-called silent codon positions where any nucleotide can be present without changing the encoded protein. However, particular silent codon positions in HIV RNA refrain from becoming A, which became apparent upon genome analysis of many virus isolates. We analyzed these 'noA' genome positions to reveal the underlying reason for their inability to facilitate the A nucleotide. We propose that local RNA structure requirements can explain the absence of A at these sites. Thus, noA sites may be prominently involved in the correct folding of the viral RNA. Turning things around, the presence of multiple clustered noA sites may reveal the presence of important sequence and/or structural elements in the HIV RNA genome.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Formijn J van Hemert
- Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Department of Medical Microbiology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 15, 1105AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Bias at the third nucleotide of codon pairs in virus and host genomes. Sci Rep 2022; 12:4522. [PMID: 35296743 PMCID: PMC8927144 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-08570-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Genomes of different sizes and complexity can be compared using common features. Most genomes contain open reading frames, and most genomes use the same genetic code. Redundancy in the genetic code means that different biases in the third nucleotide position of a codon exist in different genomes. However, the nucleotide composition of viruses can be quite different from host nucleotide composition making it difficult to assess the relevance of these biases. Here we show that grouping codons of a codon-pair according to the GC content of the first two nucleotide positions of each codon reveals patterns in nucleotide usage at the third position of the 1st codon. Differences between the observed and expected biases occur predominantly when the first two nucleotides of the 2nd codon are both S (strong, G or C) or both W (weak, A or T), not a mixture of strong and weak. The data indicates that some codon pairs are preferred because of the strength of the interactions between the codon and anticodon, the adjacent tRNAs and the ribosome. Using base-pairing strength and third position bias facilitates the comparison of genomes of different size and nucleotide composition and reveals patterns not previously described.
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Lin YT, Chau LF, Coutts H, Mahmoudi M, Drampa V, Lee CH, Brown A, Hughes DJ, Grey F. Does the Zinc Finger Antiviral Protein (ZAP) Shape the Evolution of Herpesvirus Genomes? Viruses 2021; 13:1857. [PMID: 34578438 PMCID: PMC8473364 DOI: 10.3390/v13091857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2021] [Revised: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
An evolutionary arms race occurs between viruses and hosts. Hosts have developed an array of antiviral mechanisms aimed at inhibiting replication and spread of viruses, reducing their fitness, and ultimately minimising pathogenic effects. In turn, viruses have evolved sophisticated counter-measures that mediate evasion of host defence mechanisms. A key aspect of host defences is the ability to differentiate between self and non-self. Previous studies have demonstrated significant suppression of CpG and UpA dinucleotide frequencies in the coding regions of RNA and small DNA viruses. Artificially increasing these dinucleotide frequencies results in a substantial attenuation of virus replication, suggesting dinucleotide bias could facilitate recognition of non-self RNA. The interferon-inducible gene, zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is the host factor responsible for sensing CpG dinucleotides in viral RNA and restricting RNA viruses through direct binding and degradation of the target RNA. Herpesviruses are large DNA viruses that comprise three subfamilies, alpha, beta and gamma, which display divergent CpG dinucleotide patterns within their genomes. ZAP has recently been shown to act as a host restriction factor against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a beta-herpesvirus, which in turn evades ZAP detection by suppressing CpG levels in the major immediate-early transcript IE1, one of the first genes expressed by the virus. While suppression of CpG dinucleotides allows evasion of ZAP targeting, synonymous changes in nucleotide composition that cause genome biases, such as low GC content, can cause inefficient gene expression, especially in unspliced transcripts. To maintain compact genomes, the majority of herpesvirus transcripts are unspliced. Here we discuss how the conflicting pressures of ZAP evasion, the need to maintain compact genomes through the use of unspliced transcripts and maintaining efficient gene expression may have shaped the evolution of herpesvirus genomes, leading to characteristic CpG dinucleotide patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao-Tang Lin
- Division of Infection and Immunity, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK; (Y.-T.L.); (L.-F.C.); (H.C.); (M.M.); (V.D.); (C.-H.L.); (A.B.)
| | - Long-Fung Chau
- Division of Infection and Immunity, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK; (Y.-T.L.); (L.-F.C.); (H.C.); (M.M.); (V.D.); (C.-H.L.); (A.B.)
| | - Hannah Coutts
- Division of Infection and Immunity, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK; (Y.-T.L.); (L.-F.C.); (H.C.); (M.M.); (V.D.); (C.-H.L.); (A.B.)
| | - Matin Mahmoudi
- Division of Infection and Immunity, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK; (Y.-T.L.); (L.-F.C.); (H.C.); (M.M.); (V.D.); (C.-H.L.); (A.B.)
| | - Vayalena Drampa
- Division of Infection and Immunity, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK; (Y.-T.L.); (L.-F.C.); (H.C.); (M.M.); (V.D.); (C.-H.L.); (A.B.)
| | - Chen-Hsuin Lee
- Division of Infection and Immunity, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK; (Y.-T.L.); (L.-F.C.); (H.C.); (M.M.); (V.D.); (C.-H.L.); (A.B.)
| | - Alex Brown
- Division of Infection and Immunity, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK; (Y.-T.L.); (L.-F.C.); (H.C.); (M.M.); (V.D.); (C.-H.L.); (A.B.)
| | - David J. Hughes
- Biomedical Sciences Research Complex, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, UK;
| | - Finn Grey
- Division of Infection and Immunity, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK; (Y.-T.L.); (L.-F.C.); (H.C.); (M.M.); (V.D.); (C.-H.L.); (A.B.)
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Gaunt ER, Mabbott NA. The clinical correlates of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia after immunisation with adenovirus vector-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. IMMUNOTHERAPY ADVANCES 2021; 1:ltab019. [PMID: 34557868 PMCID: PMC8385946 DOI: 10.1093/immadv/ltab019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We are at a critical stage in the COVID-19 pandemic where vaccinations are being rolled out globally, in a race against time to get ahead of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and the emergence of more highly transmissible variants. A range of vaccines have been created and received either emergency approval or full licensure. To attain the upper hand, maximum vaccine synthesis, deployment, and uptake as rapidly as possible is essential. However, vaccine uptake, particularly in younger adults is dropping, at least in part fuelled by reports of rare complications associated with specific vaccines. This review considers how vaccination with adenovirus vector-based vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus might cause rare cases of thrombosis and thrombocytopenia in some recipients. A thorough understanding of the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate this syndrome may help to identify methods to prevent these very rare, but serious side effects. This will also help facilitate the identification of those at highest risk from these outcomes, so that we can work towards a stratified approach to vaccine deployment to mitigate these risks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor R Gaunt
- The Roslin Institute & Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
| | - Neil A Mabbott
- The Roslin Institute & Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
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