Characterization of the RNA-protein interactions involved in the replication of Subviral RNAs

植物类病毒和丁型肝炎病毒(HDV)的RNA基因组非常小，它们的生命周期仅依赖于与宿主蛋白质的相互作用。为了更好地了解这些亚病毒RNA物种以及基于RNA的生命形式是如何复制的，我的长期目标是确定它们生物学中涉及的宿主蛋白质和RNA基序。为了实现这一目标，我的研究计划将使用三种综合方法：*1)利用分子生物学，我将鉴定一种类病毒(即马铃薯纺锤形块茎类病毒；*2)利用遗传学和生物信息学，我将确定在几个亚病毒RNA物种的复制过程中保守和选择的基因组RNA特征。*3)利用进化遗传学，我将选择一个来自HDV RNA基因组的小RNA复制子，以更好地理解基于RNA的生命形式。*通过整合这些方法，我的多学科研究计划将使我能够了解这些独特的基于RNA的生命形式的生物学。这些发现和方法也将对其他生物过程中RNA-蛋白质相互作用的全面研究具有价值，并将对研究RNA分子的结构-功能关系具有广泛的意义。

Plant viroids and the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) have very small RNA genomes and rely solely on interaction with host proteins for their life cycle. To better understand these subviral RNA species and how RNA-based life forms replicate, my long term objective is to identify both the host proteins and the RNA motifs involved in their biology. To achieve this goal, my research program will use three integrative approaches:******1) Using Molecular Biology, I will identify host proteins used by one viroid (i.e. potato spindle tuber viroid; PSTVd) and HDV, and characterize the RNA motifs they bind.***2) Using Genetics and Bioinformatics, I will identify the genomic RNA features that are conserved and selected for during the replication of several subviral RNA species.***3) Using Evolutionary genetics, I will select a small RNA replicon derived from the HDV RNA genome to better understand RNA-based life forms.******By integrating these approaches, my multidisciplinary research program will allow to understand the biology of these unique RNA-based life forms. These findings and approaches will also be valuable for comprehensive investigations of RNA-protein interactions in other biological processes, and will have broad implications for studying the structure-function relationships of RNA molecules.**