Monthly Archives: May 2014

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Newswise MANHATTAN, Kan. A collaborative study involving Kansas State University researchers has discovered a new gene expression mechanism in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, or PRRS, virus an important swine pathogen that costs the U.S. pork industry more than $600 million a year. The discovery provides a new avenue for scientists to explore strategies to control and prevent the disease.

Ying Fang, Ph.D., associate professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at Kansas State University, led a study that looked at the unique gene expression mechanism of the PRRS virus. She and colleagues found a new protein in the virus, nsp2TF, was generated through novel ribosomal frameshifting signals.

The research recently appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS, study, "Transactivation of programmed ribosomal frameshifting by a viral protein."

Fang conducted this study with her European collaborators, including Eric Snijder and his team members at Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands, and Andrew Firth, Ian Brierley and Brierley's lab members at the University of Cambridge. Yanhua Li, Fang's doctoral student in pathobiology, China, made important contributions to this study. Zhi Sun, Fang's former doctoral student, and Longchao Zhu, visiting scholars in diagnostic medicine and pathobiology in Fang's lab, also were involved in the study.

The study builds on a 2012 PNAS study Fang and her European collaborators conducted while she was at South Dakota State University. In it, researchers identified the nsp2TF protein in the PRRS virus. The protein is expressed through a new gene expression mechanism called -2 ribosomal frameshifting.

"Frameshifting occurs when a ribosome encounters a 'slippery' sequence and downstream signal in messenger RNA," Fang said. "This causes the ribosome to shift two nucleotides backward, which results in all the genetic codons downstream of the shifted site to be read differently and produce a new protein that has a different function."

With the most recent study, Fang and colleagues have shown that this -2 frameshifting requires a PRRS virus protein, nsp1beta. It is the first time a virus's genetic mechanism has been found to require the action of a transacting viral protein rather than a RNA structure to induce a ribosomal frameshifting, which is novel in the protein translation field.

The function of the nsp2TF protein is currently under investigation, Fang said. The protein contains a genetic element that may be responsible for suppressing the pig's immune system.

More here:
Researchers Find a New Gene Expression Mechanism of PRRS Virus

Researchers identified a genetic mutation in Doberman pinschers Affected dogs have white or lighter-colored coat, pink noses and lips, along with pale irises in the eyes

By Mark Prigg

Published: 13:01 EST, 12 May 2014 | Updated: 16:41 EST, 12 May 2014

Researchers have pinpointed the genetic mutation is dogs that cause them to becopme albino.

The mutation, caused by a missing protein, causes albinism in Doberman pinschers.

Affected animals have a white or lighter-colored coat, pink noses and lips, along with pale irises in the eyes - similar to humans affected.

Albino Doberman pinschers: Affected animals have a white or lighter-colored coat, pink noses and lips, along with pale irises in the eyes - an researcher now know the genetic mutation that causes the effect.

Researchers studied 20 dogs of each color and discovered that more than half of the albino dogs had at least one tumor while only one of the regular-colored dogs possessed a tumor.

The results of their research could be of great importance to Doberman breeders around the world.

Currently, American Kennel Club registration restricts dogs with the condition.

Link:
Researchers find Albino gene in DOGS and its related to human disorder