Red clover necrotic mosaic virus replication proteins accumulate at the endoplasmic reticulum

AbstractRed clover necrotic mosaic virus (RCNMV) encodes N-terminally overlapping proteins of 27 and 88 kDa (p27 and p88) known to be required for replication. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions were used to visualize the location of p27 and p88 within Nicotiana benthamiana cells. GFP:p27 fusions localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), co-localized with ER-targeted yellow fluorescent protein and caused membrane restructuring and proliferation. Cellular fractionation of virus-inoculated N. benthamiana leaves confirmed the association of p27 with ER membranes. GFP:p88 fusions also localized to the ER and co-localized with GFP:p27. Both fusion proteins co-localize to the cortical and cytoplasmic ER and were associated with invaginations of the nuclear envelope. Independent accumulation in, and perturbation of, the ER suggests that p27 and p88 function together in the replication complex. This is the first report of a member of the Tombusviridae replicating in association with the ER

A Versatile Assay for the Identification of RNA Silencing Suppressors Based on Complementation of Viral Movement

The cell-to-cell movement of Turnip crinkle virus (TCV) in Nicotiana benthamiana requires the presence of its coat protein (CP), a known suppressor of RNA silencing. RNA transcripts of a TCV construct containing a reporter gene (green fluorescent protein) (TCV-sGFP) in place of the CP open reading frame generated foci of three to five cells. TCV CP delivered in trans by Agrobacterium tumefaciens infiltration potentiated movement of TCV-sGFP and increased foci diameter, on average, by a factor of four. Deletion of the TCV movement proteins in TCV-sGFP (construct TCVΔ92-sGFP) abolished the movement complementation ability of TCV CP. Other known suppressors of RNA silencing from a wide spectrum of viruses also complemented the movement of TCV-sGFP when delivered in trans by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. These include suppressors from nonplant viruses with no known plant movement function, demonstrating that this assay is based solely on RNA silencing suppression. While the TCV-sGFP construct is primarily used as an infectious RNA transcript, it was also subcloned for direct expression from Agrobacterium tumefaciens for simple quantification of suppressor activity based on fluorescence levels in whole leaves. Thus, this system provides the flexibility to assay for suppressor activity in either the cytoplasm or nucleus, depending on the construct employed

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in adults: A case in a previously healthy adult

A 25-year-old previously healthy female presented to the emergency department (ED) with 5 days of rash, fevers, shortness of breath, and generalized weakness. She had presented to another ED 4 days previously and noted that her rash had improved, but her other symptoms were worsening. She had recovered from COVID-19, confirmed by positive antigen test 5 weeks prior. On ED arrival, she was afebrile and persistently tachycardic to a rate of 120 beats per minute, despite aggressive fluid resuscitation with 3L of IV crystalloid. She was found to have a troponin elevated to 0.06 ng/mL in addition to a d-dimer elevated to 1.42 mcg/mL FEU. She was admitted to the hospital where she developed hypotension requiring vasopressor support and was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). A transthoracic echocardiogram revealed a newly reduced ejection fraction of 31%. She was diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in adults (MIS-A). The patient received intravenous immunoglobulin and methylprednisolone 60 mg Q12 hours while admitted. She was discharged on hospital day 3 with a prednisone taper and is currently doing well at her most recent follow-up with infectious disease

Meditation-induced near-death experiences: a 3-year longitudinal study

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are life transformational events that are increasingly being subjected to empirical research. However, to date, no study has investigated the phenomenon of a meditation-induced near-death experience (MI-NDE) that is referred to in ancient Buddhist texts. Given that some advanced Buddhist meditators can induce NDEs at a pre-planned point in time, the MI-NDE may make NDEs more empirically accessible and thus advance understanding into the psychology of death-related processes. The present study recruited 12 advanced Buddhist meditators and compared the MI-NDE against two other meditation practices (i.e. that acted as control conditions) in the same participant group. Changes in the content and profundity of the MI-NDE were assessed longitudinally over a 3-year period. Findings demonstrated that compared to the control conditions, the MI-NDE prompted significantly greater pre-post increases in NDE profundity, mystical experiences and non-attachment. Furthermore, participants demonstrated significant increases in NDE profundity across the 3-year study period. Findings from an embedded qualitative analysis (using grounded theory) demonstrated that participants (i) were consciously aware of experiencing NDEs, (ii) retained volitional control over the content and duration of NDEs and (iii) elicited a rich array of non-worldly encounters and spiritual experiences. In addition to providing corroborating evidence in terms of the content of a “regular” (i.e. non-meditation-induced) NDE, novel NDE features identified in the present study indicate that there exist unexplored and/or poorly understood dimensions to NDEs. Furthermore, the study indicates that it would be feasible - including ethically feasible - for future research to recruit advanced meditators in order to assess real-time changes in neurological activity during NDEs

Instability of the rhodium magnetic moment as origin of the metamagnetic phase transition in alpha-FeRh

Based on ab initio total energy calculations we show that two magnetic states of rhodium atoms together with competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchange interactions are responsible for a temperature induced metamagnetic phase transition, which experimentally is observed for stoichiometric alpha-FeRh. A first-principle spin-based model allows to reproduce this first-order metamagnetic transition by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Further inclusion of spacial variation of exchange parameters leads to a realistic description of the experimental magneto-volume effects in alpha-FeRh.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Alpha decay of 176Au

International audienceThe isotope Au176 has been studied in the complete fusion reaction Ca40+Pr141 → 176Au+5n at the velocity filter SHIP (GSI, Darmstadt). The complex fine-structure α decay of two isomeric states in Au176 feeding several previously unknown excited states in the daughter nucleus Ir172 is presented. An α-decay branching ratio of bα=9.5(11)% was deduced for the high-spin isomer in Ir172