Descripción del proyecto
Descodificación del papel de las proteínas de unión de ARN de los mosquitos
El mosquito, pequeña criatura con seis patas, es peligroso para la salud humana, ya que es el vector de enfermedades más eficaz de todo el reino animal. De ellos, el mosquito «Aedes» es el más mortal, ya que transmite virus como el virus de Zika, el virus del dengue, el chikungunya y el virus de la fiebre amarilla. Durante muchos años, se han utilizado insecticidas para controlar las poblaciones de mosquitos, pero estos han demostrado su capacidad para desarrollar resistencia. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos DRmov investigará las proteínas de unión de ARN (RBP, por sus siglas en inglés) en los mosquitos. Las RBP, que intervienen en el metabolismo celular y viral del ARN, se consideran las dianas perfectas para las terapias antivirales. El proyecto propone elaborar perfiles del compendio de RBP de los mosquitos (RBPoma) empleando la técnica de captura de ARN-interactoma (RNA-IC, por sus siglas en inglés).
Objetivo
The impact of mosquito-borne diseases has expanded dramatically in the last few decades to become an emerging global health problem, with around 1 billion new infections and 1 million deaths each year. In Europe there are more than 20 countries with established populations of invasive Aedes mosquitoes. Aedes mosquitoes are the principle vectors responsible for transmitting high-risk pathogens such as ZIKA virus (ZIKV), dengue (DENV), yellow fever virus (YFV), chikungunya virus (CHKV) and Venezuelan equine encephalitic virus (VEEV). Despite our vulnerabilities to mosquito-borne diseases, virus replication dynamics is still poorly understood especially in the invertebrate vectors. No treatment against these viruses targeting essential viral proteins are currently available. Thus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its Vector Control Advisory Group has urged for insect vector control. Vector control is usually performed through insecticides; however, resistance can emerge in mosquitoes leading to persistence of the disease. Therefore, virologists are turning their interests toward host factors that play essential roles in infection as novel antiviral targets, since they can potentially exhibit broad-spectrum efficacy. In particular, scientists envision that genetically modified mosquitoes with disrupted genes required for infection can be re-inserted into natural habitats or through targeting these genes by RNAi in order to control viral spread. As all mosquito-borne viruses have RNA genome, cellular RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) emerge as ideal targets for antiviral therapies, as they are key players in cellular and viral RNA metabolism . Thus, we propose here to profile comprehensively the compendium of mosquito RBPs (RBPome) using RNA-interactome capture (RNA-IC). Furthermore, we will apply different cutting-edge methods to identify the role of mosquito RBPs during virus infection.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinador
G12 8QQ Glasgow
Reino Unido