Award details

Studentship: Inter-serotypic genetic evolution of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus

Reference	BBS/E/I/00001756
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Donald King
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Eleanor Cottam
Institution	The Pirbright Institute
Department	The Pirbright Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	35,649
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/10/2012
End date	30/09/2016
Duration	47 months

Abstract

Studentship: Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is very genetically diverse and exists as a swarm of genetically related variants. This enables the virus to adapt rapidly to new environments and evade immune responses. The genetic variants seen at a herd and global level are a direct result of the virus diversity that is created through spontaneous mutation and recombination at the cell level. Processes such as genetic drift, migration and selection act upon the genetic variants to result in the genetic phenotypes characterised. Thus transmission events, and host immune responses shape the genetic diversity that is produced by the virus. FMDV exists in seven different serotypes which differ in their epidemiology (transmission, virulence, immunogenicity) and herd level genetic diversity. However, it is not known whether these differences are governed by environment and host, or whether the viruses have modified their own replication and diversity generation to achieve survival in a specific ecological niche. Understanding how viruses generate diversity is crucial to studying the spread of virus and controlling disease. This PhD project addresses the question as to whether the variation between evolutionary phenotypes of the seven serotypes of FMDV at an epidemiological level, are due to inherent differences in the amount and structure of genetic diversity generated at a cellular level. The project evaluates the impact of varying replicative rates, protein diversity and genetic sequence flexibility on the generation and maintenance of genetic diversity within virus populations. The work embraces a cross disciplinary research approach incorporating molecular biology, next generation sequencing, and mathematical modelling of data.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Animal Health, Microbiology
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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