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Zika virus (ZIKV) infection and its associated congenital and other neurological disorders, particularly microcephaly and other fetal developmental abnormalities, constitute a World Health Organization (WHO) Zika Virus Research Agenda within the WHO’s R&D Blueprint for Action to Prevent Epidemics, and continue to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) today. ZIKV pathogenicity is initiated by viral infection and propagation across multiple placental and fetal tissue barriers, and is critically strengthened by subverting host immunity. ZIKV immune evasion involves viral non-structural proteins, genomic and non-coding RNA and microRNA (miRNA) to modulate interferon (IFN) signaling and production, interfering with intracellular signal pathways and autophagy, and promoting cellular environment changes together with secretion of cellular components to escape innate and adaptive immunity and further infect privileged immune organs/tissues such as the placenta and eyes. This review includes a description of recent advances in the understanding of the mechanisms underlying ZIKV immune modulation and evasion that strongly condition viral pathogenesis, which would certainly contribute to the development of anti-ZIKV strategies, drugs, and vaccines., Depto. de Genética, Fisiología y Microbiología, Fac. de Ciencias Biológicas, TRUE, pub

HIV Nef is a central auxiliary protein in HIV infection and pathogenesis. Our results indicate that HDAC6 promotes the aggresome/autophagic degradation of the viral polyprotein Pr55Gag to inhibit HIV-1 production. Nef counteracts this antiviral activity of HDAC6 by inducing its degradation and subsequently stabilizing Pr55Gag and Vif viral proteins. Nef appears to neutralize HDAC6 by an acidic/endosomal-lysosomal processing and does not need the downregulation function, since data obtained with the non-associated cell-surface Nef-G2A mutant – the cytoplasmic location of HDAC6 – together with studies with chemical inhibitors and other Nef mutants, point to this direction. Hence, the polyproline rich region P72xxP75 (69–77 aa) and the di-Leucin motif in the Nef-ExxxLL160-165 sequence of Nef, appear to be responsible for HDAC6 clearance and, therefore, required for this novel Nef proviral function. Nef and Nef-G2A co-immunoprecipitate with HDAC6, whereas the Nef-PPAA mutant showed a reduced interaction with the anti-HIV-1 enzyme. Thus, the P72xxP75 motif appears to be responsible, directly or indirectly, for the interaction of Nef with HDAC6. Remarkably, by neutralizing HDAC6, Nef assures Pr55Gag location and aggregation at plasma membrane, as observed by TIRFM, promotes viral egress, and enhances the infectivity of viral particles. Consequently, our results suggest that HDAC6 acts as an anti-HIV-1 restriction factor, limiting viral production and infection by targeting Pr55Gag and Vif. This function is counteracted by functional HIV-1 Nef, in order to assure viral production and infection capacities. The interplay between HIV-1 Nef and cellular HDAC6 may determine viral infection and pathogenesis, representing both molecules as key targets to battling HIV., Julià Blanco5,6 and Agustín Valenzuela-Fernández1, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)/FEDER, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICINN)/FEDER, Fundación CajaCanarias/FEDER, Red Española de Investigación del SIDA (RES-RETIC)/ISCII/FEDER, Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información/Fundación CajaCanarias/FEDER, Fundación Canaria Dr. Manuel Morales, Cabildo Tenerife, Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS)/ Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Fundació Institut de Recerca en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Depto. de Genética, Fisiología y Microbiología, Fac. de Ciencias Biológicas, TRUE, pub

Propargyl vinyl ethers constitute a privileged group of small size, densely functionalized and readily accessible linear scaffolds. The main key to the chemical reactivity encoded in these structures is the [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement (propargyl Claisen rearrangement) shown in Scheme 1A, which takes place irreversibly and under thermodynamic control to generate the allene 2 which isomerizes to dienal. We have developed a microwave-assisted, catalytic (imidazole 10 mol-%) and scalable methodologyto transform these allenes into salicylaldehyde motives supported on a broad range of topologies, which spanned from simple aromatic monocycles to complex fused polycyclic systems. The reaction manifold is depicted in Scheme 1B. We have performed a theoretical study of this reaction which is in full agreement with the observed experimental results. The reaction scope and the proposed mechanism will be commented in our presentation.