Research Advances in the Porcine Deltacoronavirus / 病毒学报

The deltacoronavirus is a new member of the subfamily Coronaviridae of the family Coronaviridae. Deltacoronaviruses can infect birds and mammals. Deltacoronaviruses were detected in early 2007 in Asian leopard cats and Chinese ferret badgers. In 2014, porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) infection spread rapidly in the USA. Moreover, cell culture-adapted PDCoV has been obtained from infected piglets. Animal experiments have confirmed that the isolated PDCoV is highly pathogenic and causes severe diarrhea in piglets. Thus, the PDCoV can be considered to be a good model to study the deltacoronavirus. In this review, we discuss the etiology, epidemiology, pathogenicity, culture, and diagnostic methods of the PDCoV.

Construction of recombinant plasmid pVAX1-microdystrophin and preliminary study on the treatment to Duchenne muscular dystrophy / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To construct the recombinant plasmid containing human microdystrophin cDNA, and study the microdystrophin expression in vivo and in vitro.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Microdystrophin cDNA was obtained from recombinant plasmid pBSK-MICRO digested with restrictive endonuclease Not I, the product was inserted into plasmid pVAX1, resulting in pAMICDYS. And then 3T3 cells were transfected with pAMICDYS. Forty-eight hours after transfection, the expression of the microdystrophin was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunocytochemistry. Finally, TA muscles of mdx mice were injected with the recombinant plasmid pAMICDYS through i.m. and the pathological change of TA was evaluated by histology, and the expression of microdystrophin in mdx TA was detected by immunohistochemical analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The recombinant plasmid containing human microdystrophin cDNA was constructed successfully. The recombinant plasmid was proved to be able to express microdystrophin protein both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, treatment of the TA of mdx mice with the recombinant plasmid could decrease the number of centrally nucleated myofibers.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Recombinant plasmid containing the microdystrophin gene was constructed successfully, and it could express microdystrophin protein both in vivo and in vitro. It provides basis for further study on microdystrophin as a target gene to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) by electrotransfer, i.v, arterial injection and combining with other exogenous gene to enhance microdystrophin expression.</p>