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Localization of Pat1b Proteins During Adenovirus Infection**

Abstract

Adenovirus is the largest non-enveloped double-stranded virus that causes a range of diseases from the common cold to more fatal conditions in the immunocompromised. During the infectious cycle, adenovirus can shut off host cell protein synthesis while stimulating viral late gene expression. There are 57 human serotypes of adenovirus and many animal serotypes. The early region 4 11-kilodalton (E4 11k) protein of adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5), in particular, has been shown to disrupt processing bodies, also known as p-bodies, during the viral life cycle. A few of the p-body proteins known to be disrupted are Ddx6, Lsm1, and Ge-1. They were found to be reorganized to aggresomes, which are aggregates of misfolded proteins. Another p-body protein, Pat1b, is as a scaffolding protein involved in p-body formation and also acts as a translational regulator. Pat1b localization has not been observed during an infection of adenovirus, consequently, we decided to visualize Pat1b with E4 11k and other cellular proteins using immunofluorescence microscopy to identify its localization pattern during infection. Pat1b localization was augmented during an Ad5 infection. The number of Pat1b foci increased and there were also large aggregates that co-localized with Ddx6 and -tubulin, a marker for aggresomes. Alternatively, the number of Ddx6 foci during an Ad5 infection decrease. Currently we are testing whether the increase in Pat1b foci is due to overexpression or merely redistribution of Pat1b. We will also be observing whether this localization pattern is serotype-specific. These observations will allow for a better understanding of p-bodies as a whole as well as their role during adenoviral infection.

Acknowledgements

Young Harris Undergraduate Research Initiative

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