SFB 1021: RNA Viruses: RNA Metabolism, Host Response and Pathogenesis

病毒感染仍然是人类和动物健康的主要威胁。它们对全球经济产生了巨大影响，占全球医疗成本的很大一部分。RNA病毒特别令人感兴趣，因为它们的复制机制通常缺乏校对活性，这可能导致新的致病变种的出现，这些变种在新的宿主中有效地传播和复制。这一现象的一个突出例子是目前的新冠肺炎大流行，它是由冠状病毒科的核糖核酸病毒SARS-CoV-2引起的。CRC 1021调查来自不同家庭的RNA病毒，包括引起出血热、脑炎或急性呼吸窘迫综合征的高致病性(通常是人畜共患病)病毒。CRC1021的研究在三个主要项目领域进行：(I)病毒RNA的合成和新陈代谢，(Ii)决定RNA病毒致病性的病毒因素，以及(Iii)对RNA病毒感染的细胞反应，以及抵消或帮助逃避这些细胞反应的病毒因素。计划中的研究基于该联盟提供的广泛的RNA病毒专业知识，包括在特定宿主中具有根本不同致病特性的遗传密切相关病毒或几乎相同的病毒变种(病毒型)的可用性、生成和使用。CRC1021采用了广泛的先进方法和技术(涉及基因组学和蛋白质组学分析)来研究这些病毒，并对RNA病毒复制的基本方面以及病毒因子与运行在病毒-宿主界面并确定RNA病毒在人类和动物中的致病性的细胞通路和调控网络之间的多样化和动态相互作用获得新的见解。为了实现这些目标，CRC 1021采用了一种多学科方法，将RNA病毒学、细胞生物学、生物化学、过敏学、制药科学和药理学等领域的技术技能和科学专业知识高度互补的研究人员聚集在一起。

Virus infections remain a major threat to human and animal health. They have a huge impact on global economies and account for a substantial part of healthcare costs worldwide. RNA viruses are of particular interest because their replication machinery generally lacks proofreading activity and this can lead to the emergence of new pathogenic variants that transmit and replicate efficiently in new hosts. A prominent example for this phenomenon is the current COVID-19 pandemic which is caused by SARS-CoV-2, an RNA virus of the Coronaviridae family. The CRC 1021 investigates RNA viruses from different families including highly pathogenic (often zoonotic) viruses causing, for example, hemorrhagic fever, encephalitis or acute respiratory distress syndrome. Research in the CRC 1021 is performed in three major project areas: (i) synthesis and metabolism of viral RNA, (ii) viral factors determining pathogenicity of RNA viruses, and (iii) cellular responses to RNA virus infections and viral factors that counteract or help escape these cellular responses. The planned studies are based on the extensive RNA virus expertise available in this consortium including the availability, generation and use of genetically closely related viruses or nearly identical variants of the same virus (pathotypes) with fundamentally different pathogenic properties in specific hosts. The CRC 1021 employs a wide range of advanced methods and technologies (involving genomics and proteomics analyses) to study these viruses and to obtain new insight into fundamental aspects of RNA virus replication as well as the diverse and dynamic interactions of viral factors with cellular pathways and regulatory networks that operate at the virus-host interface and determine the pathogenicity of RNA viruses in humans and animals. To achieve these goals, the CRC 1021 takes a multi-disciplinary approach that brings together researchers with a highly complementary combination of technical skills and scientific expertise in the fields of RNA virology, cell biology, biochemistry, allergology, pharmaceutical sciences, and pharmacology.