Molecular characterization of interactions between subviral RNAs and their hosts

由于对其在各种生物过程中作用的不断发现，RNA正迅速上升到当前生物学的中心阶段。由于RNA病毒使用特定的RNA基序为自己的生命周期招募宿主蛋白，它们已经导致了许多里程碑式的贡献。这些RNA-蛋白质相互作用对亚病毒RNA尤其重要，它是已知最小的感染性RNA，严重依赖宿主蛋白质进行复制和繁殖。我的实验室研究植物类病毒和丁型肝炎病毒(HDV)，作为研究RNA基序及其与细胞蛋白关联的简单系统。由于它们的遗传信息极其有限，它们的RNA基因组提供了特定的活动和基序来招募和触发它们复制和繁殖所需的宿主蛋白。我的目标是识别这些蛋白质，并在分子水平上描述这些RNA-蛋白质相互作用的特征。通过整合结构、遗传、细胞、生化、分子和生物信息学方法，这项研究计划旨在回答有关亚病毒RNA生命周期的有趣问题，并导致对真核细胞和RNA代谢的更好理解。

RNA is rising rapidly to the central stage of current biology, fuelled by the continuing discoveries of its roles in various biological processes. Because RNA viruses use specific RNA motifs to recruit host proteins for their own life cycle, they have led to many landmark contributions. These RNA-protein interactions are particularly crucial for subviral RNAs, which are the smallest known infectious RNAs and rely heavily on host proteins for their replication and propagation. My laboratory studies plant viroids and the hepatitis delta virus (HDV), as simple systems to investigate RNA motifs and their association with cellular proteins. Due to their extremely limited genetic information, their RNA genomes provide specific activities and motifs for recruiting and triggering host proteins needed for their replication and propagation. My objectives are to identify these proteins and to characterize these RNA-protein interactions at the molecular level. By integrating structural, genetic, cellular, biochemical, molecular, and bioinformatic approaches, this research program is aimed at answering the intriguing questions about the life cycle of Subviral RNAs and lead to a better understanding of both eukaryotic cells and RNA metabolism.