Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P06889 (Mol)
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Evidence suggests that midgut trypsins in Aedes aegypti condition the mosquito's ability to become infected with the dengue-2 flavivirus (DEN2). The activity of early trypsin protein peaks approximately 3 h after blood feeding and then drops within a few hours. We use association mapping to test the hypothesis that segregating sites in early trypsin condition midgut susceptibility to DEN2 virus. A total of 1642 females from throughout Mexico and the southern US were fed an artificial blood meal containing DEN2. After 2 weeks, mosquito heads and midguts were tested for DEN2. Mosquitoes with an infected head were classified as susceptible, those without a midgut infection had an infection barrier, and those with an infected gut but no head infection had an escape barrier. The early trypsin gene was amplified in two overlapping pieces from each mosquito and analyzed for single strand conformation polymorphisms (SSCPs). Unique SSCP genotypes were sequenced and 90 segregating sites were found. The dataset was divided into the four geographic regions within which Ae. aegypti is panmictic in Mexico. Heterogeneity chi2 analyses between alleles or genotypes and infection phenotypes demonstrated significant associations but allelic and genotypic effects were inconsistent among geographic regions. No consistent associations were found between segregating sites in early trypsin and susceptibility to DEN2 in Ae. aegypti in Mexico.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol 2005 Jul
PMID:Association mapping of segregating sites in the early trypsin gene and susceptibility to dengue-2 virus in the mosquito Aedes aegypti. 1589 93

Glutathione transferases (GSTs) play a central role in the detoxification of xenobiotics such as insecticides and elevated GST expression is an important mechanism of insecticide resistance. In the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, increased expression of an Epsilon class GST, GSTE2, confers resistance to DDT. We have identified eight GST genes in the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti. Four of these belong to the insect specific GST classes Delta and Epsilon and three are from the more ubiquitously distributed Theta and Sigma classes. The expression levels of the two Epsilon genes, a Theta GST and a previously identified Ae. aegypti GST [Grant and Hammock, 1992. Molecular and General Genetics 234, 169-176] were established for an insecticide susceptible and a resistant strain. We show that the putative ortholog of GSTe2 in Ae. aegypti (AaGSTe2) is over expressed in mosquitoes that are resistant to the insecticides DDT and permethrin. Characterisation of recombinant AaGSTE2-2 confirmed the role of this enzyme in DDT metabolism. In addition, unlike its Anopheles ortholog, AaGSTE2-2 also exhibited glutathione peroxidase activity.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol 2005 Aug
PMID:Elevated activity of an Epsilon class glutathione transferase confers DDT resistance in the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti. 1594 82

Members of the Culex pipens mosquito group including C. quinquefasciatus are responsible for the transmission of Bancroftian filarisis as well as West Nile Virus (WNV) in the United States. As is the case for other mosquitoes, the host preference of this disease vector relies on olfaction and accordingly mediated via G-protein coupled signal transduction pathways. Here, we identify and characterize CqOR7, the first candidate member of the odorant receptor gene family from C. quinquefasciatus. CqOR7 displays extremely high primary amino acid conservation with other apparent orthologs including AaOR7, from the Dengue virus vector mosquito Aedes aegypti, AgOR7 from the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae and DOr83b from the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster that form an essential non-conventional odorant receptor sub-family. CqOR7 transcripts can be detected in adult chemosensory tissues and during several pre-adult stages of C. quinquefasciatus, and the CqOR7 protein is localized to characteristic olfactory tissues such as the antennae and maxillary palps as well as the proboscis, a typically gustatory appendage. These results suggest that CqOR7 and its orthologs are likely to play a role in the chemosensory processes of Culicine and other mosquitoes that underlie their vectorial capacity.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol 2006 Mar
PMID:Identification and characterization of an odorant receptor from the West Nile virus mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus. 1650 78

The replication of flaviviruses requires the correct processing of their polyprotein by the viral NS3 protease (NS3pro). Essential for the activation of NS3pro is a 47-residue region of NS2B. Here we report the crystal structures of a dengue NS2B-NS3pro complex and a West Nile virus NS2B-NS3pro complex with a substrate-based inhibitor. These structures identify key residues for NS3pro substrate recognition and clarify the mechanism of NS3pro activation.
Nat Struct Mol Biol 2006 Apr
PMID:Structural basis for the activation of flaviviral NS3 proteases from dengue and West Nile virus. 1653 6

Antisense oligomers (ASOs) represent a promising technology to treat viral and bacterial infections, and have already been shown to be successful against a variety of pathogens in cell culture studies and nonhuman primate models of infection. For these reasons, antisense technologies are being pursued as treatments against biothreat agents such as Ebola virus, dengue virus and Bacillus anthracis. Several generations of modified oligonucleotides have been developed to maximize nuclease resistance, target affinity, potency, cell entry, and other pharmacokinetic properties. First-generation ASOs contain phosphorothioate modifications to increase stability through nuclease resistance. Further chemical modifications in second-generation ASOs include 2'-O-methyl and 2'-O-methoxy-ethyl oligos, which increase nuclease resistance and oligo:RNA binding affinities. Third-generation ASOs contain a variety of chemical modifications that enhance stability, affinity and bioavailability. A fourth class of oligonucleotide-based compounds consists of small interfering RNAs, which have recently become widely used for gene knockdown in vitro and in vivo. This review focuses on the third-generation phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers, which are nonionic and contain a morpholine ring instead of a ribose, as well as phosphorodiamidate linkages in place of phosphorothioates. Multiple antisense oligomer-based therapeutics are being developed for use against biothreat agents, and antisense drugs will likely become a critical member of our arsenal in the defense against highly pathogenic, emerging or genetically engineered pathogens.
Curr Opin Mol Ther 2006 Apr
PMID:Antisense treatments for biothreat agents. 1661 Jul 60

Flaviviridae non-structural 3 protein (NS3) is a multifunctional enzyme, composed by a protease domain (NS3pro) and an RNA helicase domain (NS3hel). The activities present in NS3 have proved to be critical for viral replication. The replicative cycle of Flaviviridae requires coordinated regulation of all the activities present in the full-length NS3 protein, however, the exact nature of these interactions remains unclear. The present work aimed to determine common structural features between NS3 of dengue and hepatitis C viruses and to characterize residues involved in the regulation of the interdomain motions between NS3pro and NS3hel. Analysis of the root mean square (RMS) variation shows that NS3pro increases the stability of subdomain 1 of the RNA helicase. Moreover, the dynamic behaviour of the carboxy terminus of NS3hel, supports the hypothesis that, upon release of the carboxy-terminus from NS3pro, the residues involved in this interaction are folded back into the last alpha-helix. Using normal mode analysis, we characterized slow collective motions of NS3, and observed that the two lowest-frequency normal modes are enough to describe reorientations of NS3pro relative to NS3hel. These movements induced an increment in the exposure of the active site of NS3pro that can be important during the proteolytic processing of the viral polyprotein. The third low-frequency normal mode was correlated to subdomain reorientations of NS3hel, similar to those proposed during NTP hydrolysis and dsRNA unwinding. Based on these data, we support a dynamic model, in which the domain movements between NS3pro and NS3hel result in the regulation of its activities.
J Mol Graph Model 2007 Jan
PMID:Analysis of the domain interactions between the protease and helicase of NS3 in dengue and hepatitis C virus. 1676 73

Molecular approaches for studying biological rhythms in insects have been well investigated in the model Drosophila melanogaster, in which a number of genes have been characterized in terms of sequence, expression, protein interactions and involvement in the control of locomotor activity and eclosion rhythms. However, only scattered information is available for insect vectors of diseases. In this paper, we report the cloning and expression analysis of the clock gene timeless in the mosquito Aedes aegypti, vector of Dengue and Yellow Fever viruses. In Drosophila, timeless has a crucial role in the control of the central pacemaker and the resetting mechanism that allows the clock to synchronize with the environment light-dark cycles. Comparison of the predicted protein sequence encoded by timeless in Ae. aegypti and D. melanogaster demonstrated high similarity in some important domains, suggesting functional conservation. Analysis of the daily expression of timeless in Ae. aegypti shows a peak in mRNA abundance around the light-dark transition.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol 2006 Nov
PMID:Cloning and daily expression of the timeless gene in Aedes aegypti (Diptera:Culicidae). 1704 1

Laboratory testing for dengue virus is used to confirm the diagnosis of dengue virus infection and to differentiate dengue from other febrile tropical illnesses. There are few data on the clinical use of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for diagnosis of dengue virus infection. We prospectively evaluated 121 consecutive patients with possible dengue who had samples submitted for RT-PCR, IgM serology, and virus culture. Results were compared with the final discharge diagnosis. Semi-nested RT-PCR was performed using genus- and serotype-specific NS3 consensus primers. Results of 112 patients were available for the final analysis. The RT-PCR was positive in 40 of 62 patients with dengue. Patients who were RT-PCR-positive alone showed a mean of 4.4 days to RT-PCR positivity compared with 5.9 days in patients who were RT-PCR-negative and IgM serology-positive (P = 0.03, Mann-Whitney U-test). The sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value were 70, 100, 84, and 100%, respectively, for samples analyzed within 5 days of illness onset. The RT-PCR also provided epidemiological data regarding the prevailing dengue virus serotypes: 25 with Den-2, eight with Den-3, and seven with Den-1 infection. We propose an algorithm of dengue testing that uses RT-PCR within 5 days of illness onset, whereas IgM capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is preferred for those presenting later.
J Mol Diagn 2006 Nov
PMID:A prospective clinical study on the use of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for the early diagnosis of Dengue fever. 1706 31

The mechanism by which the virus associated with dengue fever can cause a fatal hepatitis is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine 9 cases of fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever-associated hepatitis, and to correlate the histologic findings with viral detection and cytokine response. The histologic changes were nonspecific and included massive hepatic necrosis and a pauci-cellular acute hepatitis. Viral cDNA detection by reverse transcriptase in situ polymerase chain reaction demonstrated that the fatal hepatitis was due to infection on average of >90% of hepatocytes and many Kupffer cells. Similar results were obtained using immunohistochemistry for viral protein using an automated highly sensitive system. Immunohistochemical analysis for tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin-2, showed rare positive Kupffer cells. In comparison, fatal cases of hepatitis C associated liver failure demonstrated far fewer infected hepatocytes and a concomitant strong up-regulation of many cytokines, notably tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2. It is concluded that fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever is associated with acute, severe liver damage due primarily to massive direct infection of hepatocytes and Kupffer cells with minimal cytokine response. The infection can be readily detected in a few hours using an automated system that has a sensitivity equivalent to reverse transcriptase in situ polymerase chain reaction.
Diagn Mol Pathol 2006 Dec
PMID:Histologic, viral, and molecular correlates of dengue fever infection of the liver using highly sensitive immunohistochemistry. 1712 50

The dengue viruses (DEN, genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae) are mosquito borne and have caused 100 million cases of dengue fever each year in most tropical and subtropical areas of the world. However, in the southwest area of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, China, the previous work demonstrated that different geographic strains of Aedes albopictus were susceptible to dengue virus. In this study, we collected 456 sera samples from patients with fever and 994 sera samples from healthy population in Dushan and Xingyi area of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, China. All sera samples were tested for dengue IgG by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Patients' sera samples were tested for dengue IgM and DEN antigen was checked in the sera of 6 from 456 samples with which C6/36 cell inoculated by IFA. The results indicate that these patients with fever were infected with DEN-2 and suggest that DEN infection had existed in Dushan and Xingyi area of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, China.
Cell Mol Immunol 2006 Dec
PMID:The distribution of DEN infected people in Dushan and Xingyi area of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, China. 1725 2


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