Akatsuki Saito

The paper identifies functional differences in feline NTCPs that determine susceptibility to hepadnavirus infection, revealing evolutionary trade-offs between viral receptor activity and bile acid transport.

This study determines the structure of the 2026 Bundibugyo virus glycoprotein and identifies conserved epitopes for antibody therapeutics and pan-ebolavirus vaccines.

This paper develops a synthetic VEEV reporter virus for high-throughput antiviral screening, identifying inhibitors of VEEV replication using FDA-approved compounds.

This study examines ZCCHC3 genetic and functional diversity in cynomolgus macaques, showing variants affect antiviral activity against retroviruses.

This study shows that HIV-1 Vif's essential role in infectivity under interferon and differentiation conditions is fully explained by its antagonism of APOBEC3 proteins, not other targets.

This paper develops a non-invasive method to detect RNA viruses in cats using sebum, demonstrating its effectiveness for FIV and SFTSV detection comparable to blood tests.

This study identifies the non-spike R204P mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XEC variant as a driver of increased inflammation and pathogenicity through NF-κB activation.

This study develops a pig-derived cell line expressing ephrin-B2, enhancing NiV pseudovirus infectivity and suitability for diagnostic testing and vaccine development.

The paper shows lenacapavir binding to immature Gag leads to non-infectious giant HIV-1 virions with altered structure and function.

This study investigates whether the DCHBV X protein, like HBV X, degrades the Smc5/6 complex and finds it does so in multiple host species with varying efficiency and independently of DDB1.

This paper introduces CoVFit, a protein language model that predicts SARS-CoV-2 variant fitness using spike protein sequences, identifying fitness-enhancing mutations and predicting emerging variants.

The paper quantifies RNA editing efficiency in paramyxovirus-infected cells using nanopore sequencing, revealing differences in editing between Sendai virus and canine distemper virus.

This study investigates the virological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.86 variant, finding it has higher reproduction number than EG.5.1 but lower pathogenicity and replication capacity compared to BA.2.

This study investigates the virological properties of the SARS-CoV-2 HK.3 variant, a FLip variant with substitutions S:L455F and S:F456L, to assess its growth advantage.

The paper investigates the prevalence of domestic cat hepadnavirus (DCH) in Taiwan, finding 11.27% infection rate and identifying a distinct viral lineage through whole genome sequencing.

This study investigates the transmissibility, infectivity, and immune resistance of the SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.86 variant, finding it to be highly immune evasive but with lower infectivity compared to other variants.