Enkephalin knockout male mice are resistant to chronic mild stress

Enhanced stress reactivity or sensitivity to chronic stress increases the susceptibility to mood pathologies such as major depression. The opioid peptide enkephalin is an important modulator of the stress response. Previous studies using preproenkephalin knockout (PENK KO) mice showed that these animals exhibit abnormal stress reactivity and show increased anxiety behavior in acute stress situations. However, the consequence of enkephalin deficiency in the reactivity to chronic stress conditions is not known. In this study, we therefore submitted wild‐type (WT) and PENK KO male mice to chronic stress conditions, using the chronic mild stress (CMS) protocol. Subsequently, we studied the CMS effects on the behavioral and hormonal level and also performed gene expression analyses. In WT animals, CMS increased the expression of the enkephalin gene in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus and elevated the corticosterone levels. In addition, WT mice exhibited enhanced anxiety in the zero‐maze test and depression‐related behaviors in the sucrose preference and forced swim tests. Surprisingly, in PENK KO mice, we did not detect anxiety and depression‐related behavioral changes after the CMS procedure, and even measured a decreased hormonal stress response. These results indicate that PENK KO mice are resistant to the CMS effects, suggesting that enkephalin enhances the reactivity to chronic stress.     

Pathophysiological characterization of asthma transitions across adolescence

Background

Adolescence is a period of change, which coincides with disease remission in a significant proportion of subjects with childhood asthma. There is incomplete understanding of the changing characteristics underlying different adolescent asthma transitions. We undertook pathophysiological characterization of transitional adolescent asthma phenotypes in a longitudinal birth cohort.

Methods

The Isle of Wight Birth Cohort (N = 1456) was reviewed at 1, 2, 4, 10 and 18-years. Characterization included questionnaires, skin tests, spirometry, exhaled nitric oxide, bronchial challenge and (in a subset of 100 at 18-years) induced sputum. Asthma groups were “never asthma” (no asthma since birth), “persistent asthma” (asthma at age 10 and 18), “remission asthma” (asthma at age 10 but not at 18) and “adolescent-onset asthma” (asthma at age 18 but not at age 10).

Results

Participants whose asthma remitted during adolescence had lower bronchial reactivity (odds ratio (OR) 0.30; CI 0.10 -0.90; p = 0.03) at age 10 plus greater improvement in lung function (forced expiratory flow 25-75% gain: 1.7 L; 1.0-2.9; p = 0.04) compared to persistent asthma by age 18. Male sex (0.3; 0.1-0.7; p < 0.01) and lower acetaminophen use (0.4; 0.2-0.8; p < 0.01) independently favoured asthma remission, when compared to persistent asthma. Asthma remission had a lower total sputum cell count compared to never asthma (31.5 [25–75 centiles] 12.9-40.4) vs. 47.0 (19.5-181.3); p = 0.03). Sputum examination in adolescent-onset asthma showed eosinophilic airway inflammation (3.0%, 0.7-6.6), not seen in persistent asthma (1.0%, 0–3.9), while remission group had the lowest sputum eosinophil count (0.3%, 0–1.4) and lowest eosinophils/neutrophils ratio of 0.0 (Interquartile range: 0.1).

Conclusion

Asthma remission during adolescence is associated with lower initial BHR and greater gain in small airways function, while adolescent-onset asthma is primarily eosinophilic.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12931-014-0153-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Effect of the anticoagulant, pindone, on the breeding performance and survival of merino sheep, Ovis aries

The effect of the anticoagulant, pindone, on the breeding performance and survival of relatively free-ranging merino sheep was assessed. Pindone (2-pivalyl-1, 3-indandione) was administered orally as a single (10, 3, or 2 mg pindone kg(-1) over three consecutive days) or multiple exposure (dosing regime repeated after a further 8 days). Prothrombin times (PT) increased up to 4-fold in treated sheep, and haemorrhage occurred in some instances, particularly with the double dose treatment. Deaths of sheep also occurred, usually when the sheep were placed under added stress, particularly that associated with shearing. The breeding performance of pregnant ewes dosed with pindone was reduced, mainly due to an increase in stillborn and nonviable lambs (i.e. deaths within 2 days of birth). The motility of sperm in treated rams was also affected. Pindone persisted in the blood (maximum, 13.2 mg L(-1)) for up to 14 days after the last dose, and the half-life (t1/2) was estimated at approximately 5 days depending upon the dosing regime. Other tissue residues ranged from 17 (fat) to 39 (liver) mg kg(-1). The implications of these findings for ongoing responsible use of pindone (anticoagulants) in pest control programs are also discussed.     

Photoperiod insensitive Ppd-A1a mutations in tetraploid wheat (Triticum durum Desf.)

Variation in photoperiod response plays an important role in adapting crops to agricultural environments. In hexaploid wheat, mutations conferring photoperiod insensitivity (flowering after a similar time in short or long days) have been mapped on the 2B (Ppd-B1) and 2D (Ppd-D1) chromosomes in colinear positions to the 2H Ppd-H1 gene of barley. No A genome mutation is known. On the D genome, photoperiod insensitivity is likely to be caused by deletion of a regulatory region that causes misexpression of a member of the pseudo-response regulator (PRR) gene family and activation of the photoperiod pathway irrespective of day length. Photoperiod insensitivity in tetraploid (durum) wheat is less characterized. We compared pairs of near-isogenic lines that differ in photoperiod response and showed that photoperiod insensitivity is associated with two independent deletions of the A genome PRR gene that cause altered expression. This is associated with induction of the floral regulator FT. The A genome deletions and the previously described D genome deletion of hexaploid wheat remove a common region, suggesting a shared mechanism for photoperiod insensitivity. The identification of the A genome mutations will allow characterization of durum wheat germplasm and the construction of genotypes with novel combinations of photoperiod insensitive alleles.     

Effect of Freezing on PCR Amplification of 16S rRNA Genes from Microbes Associated with Black Band Disease of Corals

Molecular analysis of black band disease of corals revealed that samples frozen immediately after collection yielded more proteobacterial 16S rRNA sequences, while unfrozen samples produced more cyanobacterial and sulfur-oxidizing bacterial sequences. These results suggest the need to use multiple approaches for preparation of samples to characterize this complex polymicrobial disease.Black band disease (BBD) is a polymicrobial disease that affects corals on reefs worldwide. It consists of a migrating microbial mat dominated by cyanobacteria that lyses coral tissue, leading to coral colony death, and is one of the most destructive of coral diseases. Microscopic examination of BBD samples consistently reveals an abundance of nonheterocystous, filamentous cyanobacteria and colorless gliding bacteria with internal elemental sulfur granules characteristic of the genus Beggiatoa (6, 17, 18). It is thought that these are key players in the etiology of BBD. However, with one exception (2), previous molecular studies of BBD consistently detected very low proportions of cyanobacteria (4, 8, 9, 19, 20) and only one study has detected Beggiatoa (19). Instead, all molecular BBD studies indicate a highly variable and diverse composition of heterotrophic bacteria, mostly members of the Alphaproteobacteria.It is unknown why the dominant cyanobacteria and filamentous sulfur-oxidizing bacteria observable microscopically in BBD samples are poorly or not at all detected by molecular methods. It is possible that freezing of the samples in these studies is the cause for low detection of BBD cyanobacteria and sulfur oxidizers. Freezing is the common method of sample processing to extract DNA for microbial community analysis of BBD and has been used in all previous molecular studies. However, this approach may impart a bias to detection of specific BBD bacteria. Suomalainen et al. (22) reported that freezing of samples targeting the fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare destroyed DNA, suggested to be due to the release of DNase and other enzymes from the cell, leaving most of the F. columnare DNA undetectable by PCR. They noted that DNA from bacteria such as Escherichia coli was not affected (22). Bissett et al. (3) speculated that freezing sediments prior to DNA extraction lysed Beggiatoa filaments and caused their DNA to be lost (3). A recent report showed that algae and cyanobacteria with large cell sizes, including filamentous strains, could not be sufficiently cryopreserved (5). While the above-described studies showed or speculated that freezing of samples affects the detection of some microorganisms in environmental samples, none of these studies included detailed investigation of the mechanism responsible for the effect of freezing or of the effect of freezing on the assessment of microbial community composition.In the present study, we investigated the effect of freezing on molecular analysis of the BBD microbial community by using DNA extracts of frozen and unfrozen BBD samples from two coral hosts (Siderastrea siderea and Diploria clivosa), using both universal and cyanobacterium-specific primers targeting the 16S rRNA gene. BBD samples (i.e., the BBD microbial mat) were collected by suctioning the mat off the coral surface using individual sterile syringes while scuba diving. Samples were transferred to 2-ml cryovials (after decanting seawater) upon return to shore and either immediately frozen and stored at −20°C until DNA extraction or maintained at ambient temperature with DNA extracted within 1 h of collection. Eleven samples were collected from reefs of the Florida Keys (United States), Lee Stocking Island (Bahamas), and St. Croix (United States Virgin Islands).Genomic DNA was extracted by the bead-beating method as previously described (12, 19, 20). Frozen samples were first thawed at room temperature, and 500-μl aliquots were directly transferred into multimix lysing matrix tubes by using trimmed pipette tips, excluding any water. Unfrozen samples were transferred to multimix lysing matrix tubes in the same way. The extracted DNA was verified by gel electrophoresis, and DNA extracts from frozen samples were stored at −20°C, whereas DNA extracts from unfrozen samples were kept at 4°C until used for PCR amplification.DNA extracted from both frozen and unfrozen samples was amplified by PCR using universal bacterial primers 27F and 1492R (14) and cyanobacterium-specific primers CYA359F and CYA781R(B) (15) targeting 16S rRNA genes. The purification of PCR products, cloning, and sequencing of plasmid inserts were done as described previously (20). Primer M13F (11) or CYA359F (15) was used to obtain partial sequences, and an additional primer, 518F (13), M13R (11), or CYA781R(B) (15), was used to obtain full-length sequences. Sequence editing, BLAST (1), and phylogenetic analysis using ARB (10) were done as described previously (19, 20). Sequences that matched at similarity identity values of 97% and above were considered to be of the same operational taxonomic unit. Representative gene sequences that were closely related to cyanobacterial sequences were subjected to maximum-parsimony, neighbor-joining, and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyses, and a consensus tree was produced based on maximum-parsimony analysis.The results for universal bacterial primers indicated that all of the frozen BBD samples except one (Fig. ​(Fig.1,1, clone library E) were dominated (44 to 87%) by Alphaproteobacteria (Fig. ​(Fig.1;1; see Tables S1 and S2 in the supplemental material). We previously (19) compared the 16S rRNA gene sequences retrieved from seven of these libraries (Fig. ​(Fig.1,1, libraries A to G), all of which were obtained from frozen BBD samples from the host S. siderea, to investigate the diversity of BBD microorganisms between BBD infections. In the present study, we focus on the differences in results obtained using frozen versus unfrozen BBD samples from S. siderea (Fig. ​(Fig.1,1, libraries G and H) and a second coral host, D. clivosa (Fig. ​(Fig.1,1, libraries I and J). The S. siderea samples (libraries G and H) were taken from different host colonies on the same reef (Butler Bay Reef site), whereas the D. clivosa clone libraries were constructed from subsamples of one BBD sample.Open in a separate windowFIG. 1.Dominant bacterial phylogenetic groups, based on 16S rRNA gene sequence types and universal primers, present in clone libraries produced from frozen and unfrozen BBD samples from the coral hosts Siderastrea siderea and Diploria clivosa. The numbers above the bars represent the numbers of sequences in the respective clone libraries. Libraries A to H, frozen (A to G) and unfrozen (H) BBD from S. siderea. Libraries I and J, frozen (I) and unfrozen (J) BBD from D. clivosa. Sampling locations and sampling dates: libraries A and B, Horseshoe Reef, Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas, 19 July 2004; C, Rainbow Garden Reef, Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas, 16 July 2004; D, Watson''s Reef, Florida Keys, 3 May 2005; E, G, and H, Butler Bay Reef site, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), 22 October 2005, 1 June 2005, and 5 June 2006, respectively; F, Frederiksted Reef site, St. Croix, USVI, 1 June 2005; I and J, Frederiksted Reef site, St. Croix, USVI, 7 August 2006. All of the sequences from clone libraries A to G have been previously published by Sekar et al. (19, 20).This approach yielded strikingly different results for the two methods. For example, the clone library produced from one frozen sample (Fig. ​(Fig.1,1, library G) from S. siderea contained only one (of 60) cyanobacterium-related sequence (see {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EF123584","term_id":"132537907","term_text":"EF123584"}}EF123584 [GenBank sequence accession no.] in Table S1 in the supplemental material), which was phylogenetically related to a sequence from an uncultured planktonic Synechococcus sp. (GenBank sequence accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"AY172810","term_id":"30525542","term_text":"AY172810"}}AY172810; Fig. ​Fig.2).2). In contrast, the clone library from the corresponding unfrozen sample (Fig. ​(Fig.1,1, library H) was dominated by a cyanobacterial ribotype which represented 37% of the clones. This ribotype was closely related to an Oscillatoria ribotype (GenBank sequence accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"AY038527","term_id":"21322142","term_text":"AY038527"}}AY038527/{"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"AF473936","term_id":"18996878","term_text":"AF473936"}}AF473936) detected in almost all reported BBD molecular studies (2, 4, 7, 23). The sequence was confirmed as the BBD Oscillatoria sequence by phylogenetic analysis using two representative clone sequences (GenBank sequence accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EF123639","term_id":"132537962","term_text":"EF123639"}}EF123639 and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EF123644","term_id":"132537967","term_text":"EF123644"}}EF123644) (Fig. ​(Fig.2).2). The unfrozen S. siderea clone library additionally produced a dominant epsilonproteobacterial ribotype (14 of 15 clones) (see Table S1 in the supplemental material) that was not detected in the corresponding frozen sample. Phylogenetic analysis of two representative sequences (GenBank sequence accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EF123607","term_id":"132537930","term_text":"EF123607"}}EF123607 and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EF123613","term_id":"132537936","term_text":"EF123613"}}EF123613, not shown in Fig. ​Fig.2)2) determined that the sequence was related to a sequence from the sulfur-oxidizing bacterium “Candidatus Arcobacter sulfidicus” (GenBank sequence accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"AY035822","term_id":"18057056","term_text":"AY035822"}}AY035822) (24), a species known to deposit filamentous sulfur (21) and reported previously in BBD (9).Open in a separate windowFIG. 2.Phylogenetic tree derived from the 16S rRNA gene sequences closely related to Synechococcus spp., Xenococcus spp., and Oscillatoria spp. sequences detected in BBD and their neighbors. The tree topology is based on the maximum-parsimony analysis. The bar represents 10% estimated sequence divergence. Boldface type indicates sequences from this study, designated as follows. FRSSBA, UFSSBA, FRSSCY, and UFSSCY indicate sequences retrieved from frozen (FR) and unfrozen (UF) samples of S. siderea (SS) using universal bacterial primers (BA) and cyanobacterium-specific (CY) primers for 16S rRNA gene amplification. FRDCBA, UFDCBA, and UFDCCY indicate sequences retrieved from frozen and unfrozen samples of Diploria clivosa (DC), and the same primer designations are used as for S. siderea sequences. GenBank sequence accession numbers are listed for all sequences. Asterisks designate sequences corresponding to the sequence from the BBD Oscillatoria discussed in the text.Again in clone library I, from the frozen subsample of D. clivosa (see Table S2 in the supplemental material), the Alphaproteobacteria were dominant (44%) and cyanobacteria represented in low percentages (4%). These cyanobacterial sequences were phylogenetically related to sequences of Leptolyngbya spp. (not shown in Fig. ​Fig.2)2) and a planktonic cyanobacterium Xenococcus sp. (GenBank sequence accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"AF132783","term_id":"5814229","term_text":"AF132783"}}AF132783) (Fig. ​(Fig.2;2; see Table S2 in the supplemental material). The library from the unfrozen BBD subsample of D. clivosa (see Table S2 in the supplemental material) was dominated by Gammaproteobacteria (35%), followed by cyanobacteria (24%) which had the same cyanobacterial sequence type (BBD Oscillatoria) observed in the unfrozen S. siderea sample (see Table S2 in the supplemental material). For corroboration of these results, we constructed an additional clone library, using universal primers, from an unfrozen BBD sample from S. siderea collected during June 2007; in this sample, 47% of the sequences were also related to the sequence from BBD Oscillatoria.The use of cyanobacterium-specific primers produced results similar to the overall pattern we detected using universal primers. Frozen BBD from S. siderea produced 27 sequences, of which 24 were closely related to sequences from planktonic Synechococcus spp. and Xenococcus sp. (see Table S3 in the supplemental material). This was confirmed by phylogenetic analysis (Fig. ​(Fig.2)2) using representative sequences (GenBank sequence accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019432","term_id":"157704222","term_text":"EU019432"}}EU019432, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019435","term_id":"157704225","term_text":"EU019435"}}EU019435, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019439","term_id":"157704229","term_text":"EU019439"}}EU019439, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019442","term_id":"157704232","term_text":"EU019442"}}EU019442, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019449","term_id":"157704239","term_text":"EU019449"}}EU019449, and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019455","term_id":"157704245","term_text":"EU019455"}}EU019455). In contrast, all of the sequences (n = 37) obtained from unfrozen S. siderea samples were closely related to the sequence from the BBD Oscillatoria (see Table S3 in the supplemental material). Representative sequences (GenBank sequence accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019460","term_id":"157704250","term_text":"EU019460"}}EU019460 and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019467","term_id":"157704257","term_text":"EU019467"}}EU019467) confirmed this phylogenetic affiliation (Fig. ​(Fig.2).2). Similarly, each of 38 sequences obtained from the unfrozen subsample of D. clivosa with cyanobacterium-specific primers was closely related to the sequence from the BBD Oscillatoria (see Table S3 in the supplemental material), again confirmed by phylogenetic analysis using two representative sequences (GenBank sequence accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019508","term_id":"157704298","term_text":"EU019508"}}EU019508 and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU019515","term_id":"157704305","term_text":"EU019515"}}EU019515) (Fig. ​(Fig.22).There was very little overlap (6 to 10%) between sequences obtained from frozen versus unfrozen BBD samples collected from both coral hosts when considering all of the BBD bacterial sequences detected (see Tables S1 and S2 in the supplemental material). Only four sequences were common to both frozen and unfrozen clone libraries (6% of 62 sequences detected within 136 clones) for S. siderea and seven sequences (10% of 69 sequences detected within 108 clones) for D. clivosa. Statistical analysis (ANOSIM) showed that the sequence types differed significantly between frozen and unfrozen clone libraries (R = 0.987; P = 0.022). Overall, all frozen libraries (libraries A to G and I) were 69% similar to each other, while the two unfrozen libraries (libraries H and J) were 58% similar.The results of our study are significant for the ongoing investigations into the etiology of BBD. While it is well known that the BBD microbial community consists of photoautotrophs (cyanobacteria), sulfate-reducing bacteria, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, and heterotrophs (16), we are just beginning to understand the roles of these functional groups in the disease process. A first step in this understanding is the valid and repeatable detection of specific members of the BBD consortium. In summary, we show here that unfrozen samples produce better results for detection of BBD cyanobacteria and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, while frozen samples are best for detection of heterotrophic proteobacterial sequences. The latter is particularly important because of the consistent finding of Proteobacteria associated with toxic dinoflagellates (19, 20), as well as other marine invertebrate pathogens (4), in BBD. We have not studied the mechanism behind the freezing effect (e.g., release of DNase), which is outside the scope of this study. Though the current study was done with BBD samples, the effect of freezing on other microbial mats or biofilms cannot be ignored. Based on the results of this study, we suggest using multiple sample-processing approaches to characterize the microbial communities associated with BBD and other microbial mats.     

Adaptation of cyanobacteria to the sulfide-rich microenvironment of black band disease of coral

Black band disease (BBD) is a cyanobacteria-dominated microbial mat that migrates across living coral colonies lysing coral tissue and leaving behind exposed coral skeleton. The mat is sulfide-rich due to the presence of sulfate-reducing bacteria, integral members of the BBD microbial community, and the sulfide they produce is lethal to corals. The effect of sulfide, normally toxic to cyanobacteria, on the photosynthetic capabilities of five BBD cyanobacterial isolates of the genera Geitlerinema (3), Leptolyngbya (1), and Oscillatoria (1) and six non-BBD cyanobacteria of the genera Leptolyngbya (3), Pseudanabaena (2), and Phormidium (1) was examined. Photosynthetic experiments were performed by measuring the photoincorporation of [¹⁴C] NaHCO₃ under the following conditions: (1) aerobic (no sulfide), (2) anaerobic with 0.5 mM sulfide, and (3) anaerobic with 0.5 mM sulfide and 10 μM 3-(3',4'-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU). All five BBD cyanobacterial isolates tolerated sulfide by conducting sulfide-resistant oxygenic photosynthesis. Five of the non-BBD cyanobacterial isolates did not tolerate sulfide, although one Pseudanabaena isolate continued to photosynthesize in the presence of sulfide at a considerably reduced rate. None of the isolates conducted anoxygenic photosynthesis with sulfide as an electron donor. This is the first report on the physiology of a culture of Oscillatoria sp. found globally in BBD.     

Transgenic Expression of the 3D Polymerase Inhibits Theiler's Virus Infection and Demyelination

The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 3D^pol is required for the elongation of positive- and negative-stranded picornavirus RNA. During the course of investigating the effect of the transgenic expression of viral genes on the host immune response, we evaluated the viral load present in the host after infection. To our surprise, we found that 3D transgenic expression in genetically susceptible FVB mice led to substantially lower viral loads after infection with Theiler''s murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV). As a result, spinal cord damage caused by chronic viral infection in the central nervous system was reduced in FVB mice that expressed 3D. This led to the preservation of large-diameter axons and motor function in these mice. The 3D transgene also lowered early viral loads when expressed in FVB-D^b mice resistant to persistent TMEV infection. The protective effect of 3D transgenic expression was not altered in FVB-Rag^−/−.3D mice that are deficient in T and B cells, thus ruling out a mechanism by which the overexpression of 3D enhanced the adaptive immune clearance of the virus. Understanding how endogenously overexpressed 3D polymerase inhibits viral replication may lead to new strategies for targeting therapies to all picornaviruses.Picornavirus infection is a major contributor to worldwide disease. Diseases such as poliomyelitis and hand-foot-and-mouth disease can be fatal. Other picornaviruses, such as rhinovirus, are partly responsible for upper respiratory tract infections. There are no drugs to treat picornavirus illness. However, some therapies show promise in vitro and in animal models. Winthrop compounds, which bind to hydrophobic sites on the surface of the virion that are important in viral attachment to the host and uncoating, decreased the number of upper respiratory symptoms following challenge with coxsackie virus 21 (45). A similar pocket binding drug, pleconaril (VP63843), showed 95% inhibition against 215 non-polio enteroviruses (39). A phase II trial of this drug against enteroviral meningitis decreased disease duration compared to the placebo (1). However, these drugs have side effects and were less effective in larger studies. Another limitation is that mutant viruses arose that sterically inhibited binding by substituting a bulky amino acid in the binding pocket (21). The administration of small interfering RNA (siRNA) has shown some promise in controlling picornavirus infections; however, the development of a delivery system is a major hurdle (8-10, 44).The picornavirus Theiler''s murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) is a member of the Cardiovirus genus. TMEV is divided into two groups based on disease in mice after intracerebral injection (12, 15). The highly virulent GDVII subgroup causes fatal encephalitis, and the lowly virulent Theiler''s original (TO) subgroup, which includes BeAn and DA strains, causes a persistent infection in the white matter of the central nervous system (CNS), leading to chronic inflammation and demyelination in genetically susceptible mice. Chronic inflammation and demyelination leads to secondary axonal dysfunction and paralysis. Therefore, the BeAn and DA strains of TMEV infection in mice are used as animal models of demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis (4, 11, 13).Inbred strains of mice differ in their susceptibility to TMEV (14, 18). Resistance to persistent infection depends on the haplotype of the major histocompatibility complex (H-2). Mice of the H-2^b,d,k haplotype are resistant to persistent infection, whereas mice of the H-2^f,p,q,r,s,v haplotype are susceptible to persistent infection (32). Resistance to persistent infection has been further defined to the D locus of H-2 (33, 35). The mice used in this paper all are on an FVB/NJ background. Due to the prominent pronuclei in their fertilized eggs and large litter size, FVB/NJ mice commonly are used for transgenic injection (43). These mice are of the H-2^q haplotype and are susceptible to persistent TMEV infection. Persistent infection leads to chronic spinal cord inflammation and demyelination in all inbred mice that are genetically susceptible to TMEV. FVB-D^b mice contain the H-2D^b transgene, which confers resistance to persistent TMEV infection (2). FVB mice and FVB-D^b mice have similar early acute disease in the brain at 7 days postinfection (dpi); however, unlike FVB mice, FVB-D^b mice control the virus in the brain and spinal cord by day 45 and do not develop demyelination.Picornaviruses perform multiple tasks inside host cells for successful viral replication, with very few gene products being responsible for these tasks. The single-stranded RNA picornavirus genome has, on average, 7,500 nucleotides and produces a single polyprotein that is cleaved by its own virus-encoded proteases. One of these proteins, the RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase 3D^pol, is required for the elongation of positive- and negative-stranded viral RNA. 3D^pol oligomerizes, which favors elongation and binding to RNA (16). 3D^pol forms a membranous replication complex with VPg and precursor proteins 3AB and 3CD to initiate VPg uridylylation, which serves as a primer for positive- and negative-strand RNA replication by 3D^pol (25, 40, 42). The stimulatory effect of 3AB on RNA replication by 3D^pol is inhibited by increasing concentrations of 3D (26, 31).During the course of investigating the effect of the transgenic expression of viral genes on the host immune response to TMEV, we evaluated the viral load present in the host after infection. Mice expressing the 3D transgene were used as control mice, since previous studies have shown that the 3D protein was ignored by T and B cells in the immune system (3, 22, 29). To our surprise, we found that the 3D transgenic mice substantially reduced TMEV in vivo. Therefore, we set out to study the effect of 3D overexpression in a transgenic mouse model of TMEV infection.