Adenovirus's last trick: you say lysis, we say autophagy

The last stage of the adenovirus replication cycle, lysis, is considered not very efficient and remains poorly understood. Pathogen infection induces autophagy in eukaryotic cells. In the case of viruses, autophagy is a double-edged sword that can either facilitate or impede replication. On one hand, autophagy reduces the replication capability of the herpesviruses. On the other hand, the RNA virus poliovirus uses autophagosomes to form replication complexes. Recently we characterized the autophagy induced by the oncolytic adenovirus Delta-24-RGD in brain tumor stem cells. Late in the adenoviral infectious cycle, we observed remarkable upregulation of the Atg12-Atg5 complex and prominent autophagy. In addition, adenovirus-induced autophagy results in disruption of the cytoplasmic structure and the continuity of the cellular membrane. We speculate that adenoviruses induce autophagy to facilitate the release of viral progeny at the end of the infectious cycle. The substitution of 'autophagy' for 'lysis' is not just semantic. Because autophagy is a genetically programmed process and not a passive phenomenon, it immediately suggests interactions between adenovirus proteins and autophagy regulators. Understanding the mechanism underlying adenovirus-mediated autophagy should propel the development of novel vectors with enhanced capability to release viral progeny and, as a result, morepotent oncolytic effect.     

Just click on the mouse!

The mouse genome is being sequenced in an efficient, coordinated manner. The map is complete and an assembly of whole genome shotgun data is available at a click of the mouse. In the final finished sequence phase, it seems a targeted approach would be more useful than random coverage. There are currently rich pickings available for mouse geneticists--that is to say, as long as their particular region of interest has been covered. Hard lessons learnt from the Human Genome Project have been put into practice, resulting in the elucidation of the mouse genome taking place with greater efficiency. The various genome centres have worked with coordination and a common strategy to generate a draft of the mouse genome in under a year, an achievement that would not have been deemed plausible a few years ago.