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Photolysis of dibenzothiophene sulfoxide results in the formation of dibenzothiophene and oxidized solvent. Though quantum yields are low, chemical yields of the sulfide are quite high. Yields of the oxidized solvents can also be high. Typical products are phenol from benzene, cyclohexanol, and cyclohexene from cyclohexane and 2-cyclohexenol and epoxycyclohexane from cyclohexene. A number of experiments designed to elucidate the mechanism of the hydroxylation were carried out, including measurements of quantum yields as a function of concentration, solvent, quenchers, and excitation wavelength. These data are inconsistent with a mechanism involving a sulfoxide dimer, which also does not properly account for the solvent oxidations. It is suggested that the active oxidizing agent may be atomic oxygen O( 3 P) or a closely related noncovalent complex, based on the nature of the oxidation chemistry, comparison to known rate constants for O( 3 P) reactivity, and the quantum yield data.

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Influenza B virus (IBV) is considered a major human pathogen, responsible for seasonal epidemics of acute respiratory illness. Two antigenically distinct IBV hemagglutinin (HA) lineages cocirculate worldwide with little cross-reactivity. Live attenuated influenza virus (LAIV) vaccines have been shown to provide better cross-protective immune responses than inactivated vaccines by eliciting local mucosal immunity and systemic B cell- and T cell-mediated memory responses. We have shown previously that incorporation of temperature-sensitive (ts) mutations into the PB1 and PB2 subunits along with a modified HA epitope tag in the C terminus of PB1 resulted in influenza A viruses (IAV) that are safe and effective as modified live attenuated (att) virus vaccines (IAV att). We explored whether analogous mutations in the IBV polymerase subunits would result in a stable virus with an att phenotype. The PB1 subunit of the influenza B/Brisbane/60/2008 strain was used to incorporate ts mutations and a C-terminal HA tag. Such modifications resulted in a B/Bris att strain with ts characteristics in vitro and an att phenotype in vivo. Vaccination studies in mice showed that a single dose of the B/Bris att candidate stimulated sterilizing immunity against lethal homologous challenge and complete protection against heterologous challenge. These studies show the potential of an alternative LAIV platform for the development of IBV vaccines.IMPORTANCE A number of issues with regard to the effectiveness of the LAIV vaccine licensed in the United States (FluMist) have arisen over the past three seasons (2013–2014, 2014–2015, and 2015–2016). While the reasons for the limited robustness of the vaccine-elicited immune response remain controversial, this problem highlights the critical importance of continued investment in LAIV development and creates an opportunity to improve current strategies so as to develop more efficacious vaccines. Our laboratory has developed an alternative strategy, the incorporation of 2 amino acid mutations and a modified HA tag at the C terminus of PB1, which is sufficient to attenuate the IBV. As a LAIV, this novel vaccine provides complete protection against IBV strains. The availability of attenuated IAV and IBV backbones based on contemporary strains offers alternative platforms for the development of LAIVs that may overcome current limitations.