Regulation of innate immune responses by rabies virus

Rabies virus(RABV)is an infectious and neurotropic pathogen that causes rabies and infects humans and almost all warm-blooded animals,posing a great threat to people and public safety.It is well known that innate immunity is the critical first line of host defense against viral infection.It monitors the invading pathogens by recognizing the pathogen-associated molecular patterns and danger-associated molecular patterns through pattern-recognition receptors,leading to the production of type I interferons(IFNα/β),inflammatory cytokines,and chemokines,or the activation of autophagy or apoptosis to inhibit virus replication.In the case of RABV,the innate immune response is usually triggered when the skin or muscle is bitten or scratched.However,RABV has evolved many ways to escape or even hijack innate immune response to complete its own replication and eventually invades the central nervous system(CNS).Once RABV reaches the CNS,it cannot be wiped out by the immune system or any drugs.Therefore,a better understanding of the interplay between RABV and innate immu-nity is necessary to develop effective strategies to combat its infection.Here,we review the innate immune responses induced by RABV and illustrate the antagonism mechanisms of RABV to provide new insights for the control of rabies.

An inactivated recombinant rabies virus chimerically expressed RBD induces humoral and cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and RABV

Many studies suggest that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)can infect various animals and transmit among animals,and even to humans,posing a threat to humans and animals.There is an urgent need to develop inexpensive and efficient animal vaccines to prevent and control coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in animals.Rabies virus(RABV)is another important zoonotic pathogen that infects almost all warmblooded animals and poses a great public health threat.The present study constructed two recombinant chimeric viruses expressing the S1 and RBD proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan01 strain based on a reverse genetic system of the RABV SRV9 strain and evaluated their immunogenicity in mice,cats and dogs.The results showed that both inactivated recombinant viruses induced durable neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and RABV and a strong cellular immune response in mice.Notably,inactivated SRV-nCoV-RBD induced earlier antibody production than SRV-nCoV-S1,which was maintained at high levels for longer periods.Inactivated SRV-nCoV-RBD induced neutralizing antibodies against both SARS-CoV-2 and RABV in cats and dogs,with a relatively broadspectrum cross-neutralization capability against the SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses including Alpha,Beta,Gamma,Delta,and Omicron,showing potential to be used as a safe bivalent vaccine candidate against COVID-19 and rabies in animals.

A visual assay panel for the identification of monkeypox virus DNA belonging to the clades I and II

Dear Editor,Monkeypox virus(MPXV)is an enveloped double-stranded DNA virus belonging to the family Poxviridae,subfamily Chordopoxvirinae,and genus Orthopoxvirus(Hraib et al.,2022;Gong et al.,2022).MPXV forms Congo Basin clade(clade I)and West African clade(clade II)(Durski et al.,2018).Additionally,clade II consists of two subclades,clade IIa and clade IIb.

Unexpected Kirkendall effect in twinned icosahedral nanocrystals driven by strain gradient

Nanoscale Kirkendall effect has been widely used for rationally fabricating high-quality hollow nanocrystals, but often requires the intrinsic diffusion coefficient of out-diffusion materials higher than that of in-diffusion components. Here we demonstrate an unexpected Kirkendall effect that occurs in diffusing intrinsically faster Cu atoms into Pd icosahedra, leading to the formation of PdCu alloyed hollow nanocrystals. The control experiment with Pd octahedra replacing icosahedra indicates the critical role of twin boundaries in facilitating such unexpected Kirkendall effect. In addition, geometric phase analysis and density functional theory calculation show that out-diffusion of Pd atoms in the icosahedra is faster than in-diffusion of Cu atoms, particularly through the twin boundaries, upon the strain gradient with an inward distribution from tensile to compressive strains. The unexpected Kirkendall effect is also found in the interdiffusion of Ag and Pd atoms in Pd icosahedra. Our finds break the limitation of the intrinsic diffusion coefficient for the synthesis of hollow nanocrystals through Kirkendall effect and are expected to enormously enrich the family of hollow nanocrystals which have shown great potential in broad areas, such as fine chemical production, energy storage and conversion, and environmental protection. This work also provides a deep understanding in the diffusion behavior of atoms upon the strain gradient.