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Content archived on 2024-06-18

Viral metagenomics of human pathologies with unknown etiology

Objective

While viral infections create an important threat for humanity, our knowledge of the viruses that infect humans is largely incomplete. So far, discovery of new viruses has been limited by the inability to propagate them in cell culture, the lack of serological cross-reactivity, or the absence of conserved genetic element to target by PCR. Thus, numerous acute and chronic diseases with unknown etiology are caused by yet unidentified viruses. Among the highest failure rates in determining the etiological cause of disease, pneumonia, encephalitis, and pericarditis are usually cited. In these cases, the search for unknown viruses is an urgent scientific task. We propose to identify new viruses, both indigenous and pathogenic, using metagenomics (shotgun Sanger sequencing and 454 pyrosequencing) of RNA and DNA from purified viral particles found in clinical samples of individuals presenting encephalitis, pneumonia, or pericarditis diseases without known etiology. Virus-centered bioinformatics methods will be developed to detect close as well as distant relatives of known viral species. Initial viral sequence similarity analysis will be followed by full viral genome reconstruction and phylogenetic analysis. The prevalence, abundance, and geographical distribution of newly identified viruses will then be determined using quantitative real-time PCR and RT-PCR on a 10-year collection of samples from extensively characterized patients.

Call for proposal

ERC-2009-StG
See other projects for this call

Host institution

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
EU contribution
€ 831 902,00
Address
RUE MICHEL ANGE 3
75794 Paris
France

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Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris
Activity type
Research Organisations
Principal investigator
Christelle Marie Desnues (Dr.)
Administrative Contact
Béatrice Saint-Cricq (Ms.)
Links
Total cost
No data

Beneficiaries (1)