Journal of Virology

Lone Star virus (LSV) is a bandavirus first isolated from Amblyomma americanum ticks in the United States and is phylogenetically related to severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), Heartland virus (HRTV), and Bhanja virus, each of which has been associated with severe human disease. In contrast to these better-characterized bandaviruses, LSV remains poorly studied, and its pathogenic potential is not well defined. The recent detection of LSV RNA in the cerebrospinal fluid of...

Influenza B viruses contribute substantially to seasonal disease burden; however, the structural basis by which antibodies recognize the major glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) and mediate antiviral activity remains incompletely defined. Influenza B virus used to circulate as two antigenically distinct lineages, B/Victoria/2/1987-like and B/Yamagata/16/1988-like, although the latter has not been detected in global surveillance in recent years. Antigenic drift in HA contributes to reduced vaccine...

Monoclonal antibody (mAb) cocktails are increasingly used as antiviral therapeutics, but methods for evaluating mAb combination effects remain poorly standardized. To characterize interactions of recently isolated neutralizing mAbs targeting human cytomegalovirus glycoprotein B, we compared three screening approaches: checkerboard neutralization assays; DiaMOND, a high-throughput small-molecule interaction screening tool modified for mAb combinations; and EMERALD, a modified variable-ratio...

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), a member of the Alphacoronavirus genus, causes severe enteric disease with up to 100% mortality in suckling piglets. Iron is an essential micronutrient for the replication of various pathogens, including viruses, which hijack host iron resources to support their proliferation. SLC40A1 encodes ferroportin (FPN), the only known iron exporter in mammals and a key target for pathogens to manipulate host iron homeostasis. However, whether coronaviruses exploit...

Lamprey reddening syndrome (LRS) is an emerging disease affecting pouched lamprey (Geotria australis; kanakana/piharau), a culturally and ecologically significant species in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Characterized by skin hemorrhaging and elevated mortality, the etiology of LRS has remained unresolved despite previous investigations. We used a metatranscriptomic approach to characterize viral communities in 28 lamprey from New Zealand and Tasmania, Australia, comparing diseased and presumably...