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Abstract

Adenoviruses are a diverse family of nonenveloped, double-stranded DNA viruses with a variety of vertebrate hosts including humans. Over 50 serotypes of human adenovirus have been identified, and cause a number of illnesses, including conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and respiratory infections. The life cycle of adenovirus is divided into immediate early, early, and late phases, with immediate early proteins controlling transcription and the cell cycle, early proteins being largely regulatory, and late proteins being structural. Early proteins such as E4 11k have been demonstrated to relocalize key cellular proteins, including proteins found within mRNA processing bodies (p-bodies). It is hypothesized that E4 11k may affect gene expression during the late phase by disrupting p-bodies. One major p-body protein is the scaffolding protein Pat1b (the corresponding gene being PATL1). Pat1b is known to play a role in transcriptional regulation; however, research concerning its localization during an adenovirus infection had not been observed. Our preliminary results show that cytoplasmic Pat1b foci increase in number during an adenovirus infection. Additionally, we consistently found large nuclear aggregates of Pat1b in mock- and adenovirus-infected cells.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. M.K. Kandasamy and the University of Georgia Biomedical Microscopy Core for the training and use of their confocal microscope, Dr. Gary Ketner at Johns Hopkins University for viruses and cell lines, Dr. Patrick Hearing at Stony Brook University for cell lines, and the Georgia College Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences for their continued support of our research.

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