Oct 15 2024 Insect-specific flaviviruses uniquely evade antiviral RNAi

In this paper, we explore the role of RNA interference (RNAi) in mosquito immunity by comparing viral small interfering RNA (siRNA) profiles across different insect-specific flaviviruses

May 29 2024 Xinyang flavivirus is a novel tick-borne Orthoflavivirus

In this paper, we report the discovery of Xinyang flavivirus (XiFV), a novel virus isolated from Haemaphysalis flava ticks in China. Through phylogenetic analysis, we found that XiFV is closely related to other tick-only flaviviruses, such as Mpulungu flavivirus (MPFV) from Zambia and Ngoye virus (NGOV) from Senegal. This positions XiFV in a unique clade of orthoflaviviruses, a group that seems to infect only ticks, without any known vertebrate host

Oct 23 2023 Zika virus: Unlocking cures with G-quadruplex structures

We identified a conserved G-quadruplex structure in the Zika virus's 3' terminal region, which interacts with human DEAD-box helicases, DDX3X and DDX17. These findings suggest new potential therapeutic targets for the development of treatments against the virus

Mar 31 2023 RNA–RNA interaction analysis of Japanese encephalitis virus

Unraveling the intricate RNA-RNA interactions in Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) opens new possibilities for understanding viral replication and designing antiviral therapeutics, as our recent study reveals the importance of a conserved cyclization sequence in driving these interactions

Feb 03 2022 Japanese encephalitis virus genome cyclization is kinetically driven

This study uses biophysical and bioinformatics methods to assess the long-range RNA-RNA interaction between terminal regions of Japanese encephalitis virus