Study on the Gene Expression of Mosquito Cells in Response to Dengue Virus Infection

Project: National Science and Technology CouncilNational Science and Technology Council Academic Grants

Project Details

Abstract

Flaviviruses consist of viruses causing yellow fever virus, dengue fever virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, andWest Nile. In mammalian cells, the entry of flaviviruses is generally initiated by binding of the viral envelope protein with receptors or co-receptors such as heparan sulfate distributed on the cell surface, followed by V-ATPase-dependent clathrin-mediated endocytosis. However, it remains to be confirmed how flaviviruses infects cells of the mosquito that are alternate host in nature. Usually, arboviruses cause trivial deleterious effects to infected mosquito cells but induce apoptosis in vertebrate cells, suggesting that host-virus interactions are relatively distinct in different combinations of viruses and host cells. Apparently, host factors probably participate in most steps of virus infection. In this study, genes up-regulated in C6/36 cells in response to flaviviruses infection will be identified via the technique of subtractive hybridization. In our preliminary results, at least 3 up-regulated genes have been identified, including V-ATPase (a proton pump), C189 (a tetraspanin), and eIF5A (eukaryotic initiation factor 5A). Each of them is now known possibly involved in various cellular functions according to results from the infection of other viruses. Hypothetically, more novel and important genes involving in flavivirus infection is anticipated to be identified; from which a web to elucidate interactions between flaviviruses and mosquito cells may be established through this study. For genes presumably involved in the infection will be identified and selected to elucidate their function via techniques such as RNA interference. In addition, genes with important function will be sequenced and cloned for protein expression. As well, these genes will be used to study interactions between the virus and the host cell during/after infection.

Project IDs

Project ID:PD9706-0234
External Project ID:NSC96-2628-B182-003-MY3
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date01/08/0831/07/09

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