Protein sequence database for pathogenic arenaviruses

BACKGROUND: Arenaviruses are a family of rodent-borne viruses that cause several hemorrhagic fevers. These diseases can be devastating and are often lethal. Herein, to aid in the design and development of diagnostics, treatments and vaccines for arenavirus infections, we have developed a database containing protein sequences from the seven pathogenic arenaviruses (Junin, Guanarito, Sabia, Machupo, Whitewater Arroyo, Lassa and LCMV). RESULTS: The database currently contains a non-redundant set of 333 protein sequences which were manually annotated. All entries were linked to NCBI and cited PubMed references. The database has a convenient query interface including BLAST search. Sequence variability analyses were also performed and the results are hosted in the database. CONCLUSION: The database is available at and can be used to aid in studies that require proteomic information from pathogenic arenaviruses

Testing the comet nature of main belt comets. The spectra of 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR

We present the visible spectrum of MBCs 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR, as well as three Themis family asteroids: (62) Erato, (379), Huenna and (383) Janina, obtained in 2007 using three telescopes at "El Roque de los Muchachos"' Observatory, in La Palma, Spain, and the 8m Kueyen (UT2) VLT telescope at Cerro Paranal, Chile. The spectra of 133P and 176P resemble best those of B-type asteroid and are very similar to those of Themis family members and are significantly different from the spectrum of comet 162P/Siding-Spring and most of the observed cometary nuclei. CN gas emission is not detected in the spectrum of 133P. We determine an upper limit for the CN production rate Q(CN) = $= 2.8 \times 10^{21}$ mol/s, three orders of magnitude lower than the Q(CN) of Jupiter family comets observed at similar heliocentric distances. The spectra of 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR confirm that they are likely members of the Themis family of asteroids, fragments that probably retained volatiles, and unlikely have a cometary origin in the trans-neptunian belt or the Oort cloud.Comment: Paper sumbmited to A&A. 7 pages and 6 figure