Von der Soziologie der Zukunft zur Soziologie der Zukünfte

Das Ziel dieses Beitrags besteht vor dem Hintergrund der vielfältigen beobachtbaren Arten und Weisen der Vergegenwärtigung von Zukunft darin, die Differenziertheit von Zukunftsbezügen in der Gegenwartsgesellschaft zu veranschaulichen. Dabei gilt es, erste Überlegungen zu begrifflich-konzeptuellen Systematisierungen vorzunehmen. Neben der Bestimmung von Idealtypen geht es auch um die empirische Sensibilisierung für die reale Bedeutungsvielfalt der unterschiedlichen Begriffe, anhand derer Akteur:innen ihre Zukunftsbezüge benennen

The GAAS Metagenomic Tool and Its Estimations of Viral and Microbial Average Genome Size in Four Major Biomes

Metagenomic studies characterize both the composition and diversity of uncultured viral and microbial communities. BLAST-based comparisons have typically been used for such analyses; however, sampling biases, high percentages of unknown sequences, and the use of arbitrary thresholds to find significant similarities can decrease the accuracy and validity of estimates. Here, we present Genome relative Abundance and Average Size (GAAS), a complete software package that provides improved estimates of community composition and average genome length for metagenomes in both textual and graphical formats. GAAS implements a novel methodology to control for sampling bias via length normalization, to adjust for multiple BLAST similarities by similarity weighting, and to select significant similarities using relative alignment lengths. In benchmark tests, the GAAS method was robust to both high percentages of unknown sequences and to variations in metagenomic sequence read lengths. Re-analysis of the Sargasso Sea virome using GAAS indicated that standard methodologies for metagenomic analysis may dramatically underestimate the abundance and importance of organisms with small genomes in environmental systems. Using GAAS, we conducted a meta-analysis of microbial and viral average genome lengths in over 150 metagenomes from four biomes to determine whether genome lengths vary consistently between and within biomes, and between microbial and viral communities from the same environment. Significant differences between biomes and within aquatic sub-biomes (oceans, hypersaline systems, freshwater, and microbialites) suggested that average genome length is a fundamental property of environments driven by factors at the sub-biome level. The behavior of paired viral and microbial metagenomes from the same environment indicated that microbial and viral average genome sizes are independent of each other, but indicative of community responses to stressors and environmental conditions

Vaccine immune pressure influences viral population complexity of avian influenza virus during infection

Vaccines are useful tools to control influenza A virus infection in poultry, but they need to be periodically reformulated to guarantee appropriate protection from infection and to limit viral replication and circulation, which could favour the emergence of new variants. In this study, a deep sequencing approach was used to characterize and follow the evolution of the hemagglutinin of the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viral population in infected animals vaccinated with two vaccines conferring different protection levels. Results from this preliminary investigation suggested that the evolution of the viral population, as well as the abundance and heterogeneity of minority variants could be influenced by the immune pressure conferred by vaccination

Pseudorabies Virus UL3 Gene Codes for a Nuclear Protein Which Is Dispensable for Viral Replication

Many of the products of the ca. 80 genes encoded by alphaherpesviruses have already been identified and, at least tentatively, functionally characterized. Among the least characterized proteins are the products of the genes homologous to herpes simplex virus UL3, which are present only in the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae. To identify the UL3 protein of the porcine alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus (PrV), the complete PrV UL3 open reading frame was cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli as a glutathione S-transferase fusion protein, and used for immunization of a rabbit. In Western blots, the generated antiserum specifically detected a 34-kDa protein in PrV-infected cells, which was absent from purified virus preparations, indicating that PrV UL3 encodes a nonstructural protein. In indirect immunofluorescence analysis, the anti-UL3 serum produced predominantly nuclear staining in transfected as well as in infected cells, which was not altered in the absence of other virus-encoded nuclear proteins such as the UL31 and UL34 gene products. To investigate UL3 function, a deletion mutant, PrV-ΔUL3F2, was constructed and characterized. This mutant replicated and formed plaques on noncomplementing cells indistinguishable from wild-type PrV, demonstrating that PrV UL3 is not required for virus propagation in cultured cells. Moreover, ultrastructural examinations revealed no impairment of capsid formation in the nucleus, nuclear egress of capsids, virion maturation in the cytoplasm, or virus release. Thus, the overall properties of PrV UL3 are similar to those described for the homologous herpes simplex virus proteins which may be indicative of a common, yet hitherto unknown, function in alphaherpesvirus replication. However, based on our studies, an involvement of the UL3 homologs in virion formation appears unlikely

Ictv virus taxonomy profile: <em>Birnaviridae</em>

International audienceBirnaviridae is a family of viruses with bi-segmented dsRNA genomes totalling about 6 kbp forming icosahedral, non-enveloped virions. The family includes four genera, members of three of which (Aquabirnavirus, Avibirnavirus and Blosnavirus) infect vertebrates (excluding mammals), whereas members of the fourth genus (Entomobirnavirus) infect insects. Each genus includes 1-3 species. Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus of salmonids and infectious bursal disease virus of poultry are two economically important birnaviruses. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the taxonomy of Birnaviridae, which is available at www.ictv.global/report/birnaviridae