From genes to symbionts: arbovirus-vector interactions
From genes to symbionts: arbovirus-vector interactions
Arboviruses are transmitted by arthropod vectors, such as mosquitoes and ticks, to vertebrates. Vector-borne transmission is one of the major routes of viral infection, yet one of the least studied. These pathogens pose considerable risks to public health. Viral interactions with the arthropod host are a central topic in arbovirology. These interactions include not only host factors that facilitate virus infection, but also processes that suppress it such as vector antiviral responses, and endosymbionts, all of which can be exploited to develop transmission-blocking control approaches. Our aim is to uncover and characterise new factors influencing virus mosquito interactions. Arboviruses are RNA viruses, and this nucleic acid plays a central role in their life cycle as genome and mRNA. Interactions with RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are likely to be as important in arbovirus-vector interactions as they are in vertebrates, but they are far less well understood. Our research will uncover the roles of this heterogeneous group of cellular proteins, RBPs, that have been shown to play critical roles in the viral lifecycle in vertebrate hosts from aiding viral replication and spread to suppressing infection as part of the antiviral defences. This is largely unexplored in vectors yet expected to be highly relevant in interactions with arboviruses.