Award details

The cellular and molecular mechanisms of foot-and-mouth disease virus and bluetongue virus infection

Reference	BBS/E/I/00001716
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Terry Jackson
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Tobias Tuthill
Institution	The Pirbright Institute
Department	The Pirbright Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	296,183
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/2012
End date	31/12/2015
Duration	44 months

Abstract

The aim of this project is to advance understanding of the mechanisms of infection by foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) and bluetongue virus (BTV) especially to determine how these pathogens subvert host functions to effect their replication. The principal areas of our work (including the IAH Research Fellow Dr. Toby Tuthill) are the mechanisms of FMDV and BTV endocytosis, host-cell membrane penetration, and FMDV replication and assembly. Understanding the early steps in viral entry has relevance to pathogenesis as these events often determine target cell selection within the host, which dictates the site of infection and the host’s response. Through these studies we hope to gain a better understanding of how these viruses replicate and inform applied research for control of these important animal pathogens. We use an integrated approach combining biochemical, molecular and cell biology techniques with reverse genetics, microscopy (confocal and electron microscopy) and structural biology to ask fundamental questions about how virus particles attach to cells, how they are internalized by endocytosis, how they use host-cell membranes for replication and how new viruses are assembled. We are using our knowledge of FMDV receptors to improve growth of vaccine strains of the virus in cultured cells and to develop integrin receptors as 'universal' virus-capture ligands for use in diagnostic assays. To achieve replication, FMDV dramatically reorganizes internal cellular membranes to provide specialized sites for formation of viral replication complexes. My laboratory also studies these events as we wish to determine what triggers membrane rearrangements in infected cells, as well as the cellular origin of the replication membranes and what properties make them favourable for replication. We also contribute the Global FMDV Research Alliance (GFRA) that works towards achieving better disease control by the production of novel vaccines and antiviral reagents.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Animal Health, Microbiology, Structural Biology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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