From molecules to tissues: host-cell responses to infection
From molecules to tissues: host-cell responses to infection
As obligate intracellular parasites, viruses depend on host resources to support their lifecycle, from cell entry to gene expression, replication and virion assembly. With their limited coding capacity, viruses have evolved convergent mechanisms to hijack, disarm and repurpose master regulatory (common to divergent pathogens) host factors and cellular processes to promote their replication. These interactions span multiple levels, including different molecules (DNA, RNA and protein) and pathways. For example, multiple viruses hijack component proteins of the ubiquitin system to rapidly reshape the cellular proteome, creating a favourable environment for replication. As hundreds of viruses are known to infect humans, these master regulatory host factors also likely affect viral coinfections, potentially influencing the virus transmissibility and disease severity. This integrated programme applies a system-wide evidence-based approach to identify convergent interaction networks between divergent viruses and their hosts, unifying our understanding of how cells respond to infection. The knowledge gained will reveal the convergent mechanisms employed by DNA and RNA viruses to subvert host cells that ultimately contribute to susceptibility to infection and disease.