Haiku: New paradigm for the reverse genetics of emerging RNA viruses.

Reverse genetics is key technology for producing wild-type and genetically modified viruses. The ISA (Infectious Subgenomic Amplicons) method is a recent versatile and user-friendly reverse genetics method to rescue RNA viruses. The main constraint of its canonic protocol was the requirement to produce (e.g., by DNA synthesis or fusion PCR) 5' and 3' modified genomic fragments encompassing the human cytomegalovirus promoter (pCMV) and the hepatitis delta virus ribozyme/simian virus 40 polyadenylation signal (HDR/SV40pA), respectively. Here, we propose the ultimately simplified "Haiku" designs in which terminal pCMV and HDR/SV40pA sequences are provided as additional separate DNA amplicons. This improved procedure was successfully applied to the rescue of a wide range of viruses belonging to genera Flavivirus, Alphavirus and Enterovirus in mosquito or mammalian cells using only standard PCR amplification techniques and starting from a variety of original materials including viral RNAs extracted from cell supernatant media or animal samples. We also demonstrate that, in specific experimental conditions, the presence of the HDR/SV40pA is not necessary to rescue the targeted viruses. These ultimately simplified "Haiku" designs provide an even more simple, rapid, versatile and cost-effective tool to rescue RNA viruses since only generation of overlapping amplicons encompassing the entire viral genome is now required to generate infectious virus. This new approach may completely modify our capacity to obtain infectious RNA viruses.

New reverse genetics and transfection methods to rescue arboviruses in mosquito cells.

Reverse genetics is a critical tool to decrypt the biological properties of arboviruses. However, whilst reverse genetics methods have been usually applied to vertebrate cells, their use in insect cells remains uncommon due to the conjunction of laborious molecular biology techniques and of specific difficulties surrounding the transfection of such cells. To leverage reverse genetics studies in both vertebrate and mosquito cells, we designed an improved DNA transfection protocol for insect cells and then demonstrated that the simple and flexible ISA (Infectious Subgenomic Amplicons) reverse-genetics method can be efficiently applied to both mammalian and mosquito cells to generate in days recombinant infectious positive-stranded RNA viruses belonging to genera Flavivirus (Japanese encephalitis, Yellow fever, West Nile and Zika viruses) and Alphavirus (Chikungunya virus). This method represents an effective option to potentially overcome technological issues related to the study of arboviruses.

Simple reverse genetics systems for Asian and African Zika viruses.

Zika virus (ZIKV), a typical example of a re-emerging pathogen, recently caused large outbreaks in Pacific islands and the Americas, associated with congenital diseases and neurological complications. Deciphering the natural history, ecology and pathophysiology of this mosquito-borne pathogen requires effective reverse genetics tools. In the current study, using the bacterium-free 'Infectious Subgenomic Amplicons' (ISA) method, we generated and made available to the scientific community via the non-profit European Virus Archive collection, two simple and performing reverse genetics systems for ZIKV. One is based on an Asian ZIKV strain belonging to the outbreak lineage (French Polynesia 2013). The second was designed from the sequence of a low-passaged ZIKV African strain (Dakar 1984). Using the ISA procedure, we derived wild-type and a variety of specifically engineered ZIKVs in days (intra- and inter-lineage chimeras). Since they are based on low-passaged ZIKV strains, these engineered viruses provide ideal tools to study the effect of genetic changes observed in different evolutionary time-scales of ZIKV as well as pathophysiology of ZIKV infections.

MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry for the rapid diagnosis of cancerous lung nodules.

Recently, tissue-based methods for proteomic analysis have been used in clinical research and appear reliable for digestive, brain, lymphomatous, and lung cancers classification. However simple, tissue-based methods that couple signal analysis to tissue imaging are time consuming. To assess the reliability of a method involving rapid tissue preparation and analysis to discriminate cancerous from non-cancerous tissues, we tested 141 lung cancer/non-tumor pairs and 8 unique lung cancer samples among the stored frozen samples of 138 patients operated on during 2012. Samples were crushed in water, and 1.5 µl was spotted onto a steel target for analysis with the Microflex LT analyzer (Bruker Daltonics). Spectra were analyzed using ClinProTools software. A set of samples was used to generate a random classification model on the basis of a list of discriminant peaks sorted with the k-nearest neighbor genetic algorithm. The rest of the samples (n = 43 cancerous and n = 41 non-tumoral) was used to verify the classification capability and calculate the diagnostic performance indices relative to the histological diagnosis. The analysis found 53 m/z valid peaks, 40 of which were significantly different between cancerous and non-tumoral samples. The selected genetic algorithm model identified 20 potential peaks from the training set and had 98.81% recognition capability and 89.17% positive predictive value. In the blinded set, this method accurately discriminated the two classes with a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 95.1% for the cancer tissues and a sensitivity of 87.8% and a specificity of 95.3% for the non-tumor tissues. The second model generated to discriminate primary lung cancer from metastases was of lower quality. The reliability of MALDI-ToF analysis coupled with a very simple lung preparation procedure appears promising and should be tested in the operating room on fresh samples coupled with the pathological examination.

Impaired virulence and fitness of a colistin-resistant clinical isolate of Acinetobacter baumannii in a rat model of pneumonia.

We compared the fitness and lung pathogenicity of two isogenic clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii, one resistant (ABCR) and the other susceptible (ABCS) to colistin. In vitro, ABCR exhibited slower growth kinetics than ABCS. In a rat model of pneumonia, ABCR was associated with less pronounced signs of infection (lung bacterial count, systemic dissemination, and lung damage) and a better outcome (ABCR and ABCS mortality rates, 20 and 50%, respectively [P = 0.03]).

Evaluation of the diagnostic value of fluorescent in situ hybridization in a rat model of bacterial pneumonia.

In severe nosocomial pneumonia, the pathogenic responsibility of bacteria isolated from airways is far from certain, and a lung biopsy is sometimes performed. However, detection and identification of pathogens are frequently unachieved. Here, we developed a protocol for direct visualization of bacteria within the lung tissue using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) in a rat model of Acinetobacter baumannii pneumonia. The reference positive diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia was the presence of pathological signs of pneumonia associated with the proof of bacteria or bacterial PCR products into the parenchyma. By analysis of 122 sets of slices from 26 rats and using the eubacterial probe EUB-338, our results show that FISH reached a sensitivity and a diagnostic accuracy higher than that of optic microscopy (sensitivity: 96% versus 55.4% and diagnostic accuracy: 96.7% versus 66.4%), whereas both approaches had 100% specificity. FISH could be useful especially on negative biopsies from patients with suspected infectious pneumonia.