The role of host genetic factors in the pathogenesis and outcome of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is not well known.We assessed the association of HLA and TNF (rs361525, rs1800629, rs1799724, rs1800630 and rs1799964) polymorphisms with HBV outcome in the South Indian population. Association of HLA polymorphism was analyzed in 90 individuals from each group, that is, spontaneous recovery (SR) and chronic-HBV (C-HBV) infection. The role of TNF polymorphisms was evaluated in 150 subjects with SR and 137 patients with C-HBV infection. After adjusting for age and sex, HLA-DRB1*07:01 was strongly associated with chronicity (corrected P-value (pc) o0.005, odds ratio (OR) 3.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.84-7.68). The rs1800630 genotype was associated with HBV outcome in codominant (pco0.01, OR ¼ 1.99, 95% CI 1.30-3.05) and dominant (pco0.01, OR ¼ 2.28, 95% CI 1.35-3.84) analyzing models after adjusting for age and sex. Similarly, the rs1799964 genotype was associated with HBV outcome in codominant (pc ¼ 0.01, OR ¼ 1.57, 95% CI 1.09-2.27) and dominant (pco0.01, OR ¼ 2.21, 95% CI 1.27-3.83) analyzing models. Haplotype analysis (rs1799964/rs1800630/rs1799724/rs1800629/rs361525) revealed that the CACGG haplotype was strongly associated with C-HBV infection (P ¼ 0.0004). Our study suggests that inheritance of HLA and TNF polymorphisms might explain the outcome of HBV infection in the South Indian population.

In this study spanning a decade, HCV genotype 3 and genotype 1 were found to be the predominant genotypes in the Indian sub-continent. Genotype 4 and genotype 6 appeared to show some geographic restriction. A continued monitoring of HCV genotypes is essential for the optimum management of these chronically infected patients. In addition, knowledge of circulating genotypes could impact on future vaccine formulations.

The viral envelope glycoproteins are essential for entry into their host cells and studied extensively for designing vaccines. We hypothesize that the glycosylation on the HIV-1 viral envelope glycoprotein 41(gp41) at critical residues offers viral escape from the specific immune surveillant neutralizing antibodies Z13, 4E10 and 10E8 targeted to their linear epitopes in the Membrane Proximal External Region (MPER). The glycosylation occurring on the 50th residue (Asparagine) contained in the target (NWFNIT) can mask itself to be inaccessible for these neutralizing antibodies. The glycosylation rate of the epitopes which are shared by the Z13, 4E10 and 10E8 neutralizing antibodies of HIV-1 were predicited in silico. We analyzed the reliable frequency of glycosylation on the HIV-1 envelope gp41 using prediction tools to unravel the plausibility of the glycosylation by a mannose at 50th residue in the 59 amino acid long HIV-gp41 trimer (PDBID: 2M7W and 2LP7). It is evident that the glycosylation by a mannose that masks these targets is possible only when the 50th amino-acid is N (Asparagine, Asn) which is not possible when N is mutated to D (Aspartatic acid, Asp). The additive advantage for the retrovirus is its error-prone reverse transcriptase which can choose to copy these survivable mutants with Asn N-50 that can be glycosylated as explained by the Copy-choice model. So the glycan shields varying in their intensity and patterns have to be essentially studied to understand the viral escape strategies that will give a way forward towards a successful vaccine that can elicit a neutralizing antibody response to confer protection.

AIDS as a disease afflicts mankind for more than 3 decades. HIV, the causative is not yet checked with a prophylactic vaccine. The plausibility of the prevention by conventional prophylactic strategies based on Jenner's conventional method of inducing memory response is reviewed here. In order to find the right direction towards achieving this goal, a SWOT analysis is represented here with a Venn diagram. Our increasing awareness on the viral genome and the antiviral treatment with the sensitive diagnostic tools strengthen the efforts, while the viral nature privileges its replenishment by hampering the host immune memory. Though antiviral drugs promise a notable degree of control, they render selection pressure favoring viral escapism with perking quasispecies or circulating recombinant forms (CRF). Few historical clinical trials teach us to frame new opportunities for the conduct of such trials that assures safety. The knowledge has exponentially increased on the host immune response, human genetics, retrovirology, drug development, gene delivery system to understand that HIV is the only pathogen that had the greatest consumption of our time and resources. The technological advancements add to our strength. However, the virus with its biological features proves its intrinsic competency for survival. Though the antiviral therapy confers some hope, the resistant forms pose a threat to their continuation. It emphasizes the need for prevention and suggests novel, unconventional prophylaxis. Treatment as a means of prevention and the use of immunomodulators to decrease the disease progression can help us to win the belligerence against AIDS.

Abelmoschus esculentus is widely cultivated and consumed across the globe for its nutritional and medicinal purpose. In spite of the growing demand, its cultivation is massively affected by various insects, fungi, nematodes and viruses. Due to lack of genomic and limited transcriptomic resources, genetic manipulation studies concerning the crop improvement against various environmental factors is scarce for this crop. Thereby, the present study aims to develop high quality transcriptome of A. esculentus by employing the Next-Generation based RNA sequencing of four cDNA libraries generated from the leaf samples. Sequencing yielded a total of 206.3 million paired-end clean reads with 66,382 assembled unigenes having a total length of 71.35 Mb, an average length of 1,074 bp and an N50 of 1,408 bp. About 56% of the unigenes were successfully annotated in four public databases including Pfam, GO, COG, and KEGG. GO analysis revealed that the majority of the annotated unigenes were involved in key biological processes like ATP binding, DNA binding, transcription, DNA-templated, and integral component of membrane. KEGG pathway analysis showed that 16,307 unigenes were assigned to 143 pathways in which majority of secondary metabolites related transcripts involving in phenylpropanoids, flavonoid and terpenoid biosynthesis pathway were identified. In addition, transcription factor and simple sequence repeats (SSRs) analyses revealed 76 transcription factor families and 9,578 potential SSRs in the A. esculentus leaf transcriptome. Furthermore, de novo assembled leaf transcriptome generated in the present study had longer transcripts with better N50 sizes and the quality of assembly was ensured by qRT-PCR analysis. The A. esculentus sequence information presented in this study will be a valuable resource for further molecular genetics and functional genomics studies for the improvement of this crop plant.