22BBSRC-NSF/BIO: Deciphering the RNA structure code for viroid infections

病毒不断威胁着人类、牲畜和农作物。许多病毒都有RNA基因组。在最极端的情况下，仅非编码rna（即类病毒）就能感染作物，导致产量损失。以油棕和椰树为例，由于缺乏有效的治疗措施，1980年至2007年期间约有4000万棵棕榈树被类病毒杀死。此外，不同的温度会影响类病毒滴度和症状严重程度。温暖的温度导致更严重的叶片症状和马铃薯因类病毒感染而严重减产。据预测，气候变化增加了病毒跨物种传播的风险，并带来了爆发新病毒和新病毒的风险。因此，探索未来可持续农业信息的潜在解决方案是及时的。该提案建立在英国和美国团队最近的突破基础上，旨在改变目前对类病毒RNA结构的认识。该建议将开发先进的方法来破译活植物细胞中类病毒的空间和时间RNA结构景观。然后我们将评估这些RNA结构特征在类病毒感染中的功能重要性。我们将提供新的RNA结构介导的类病毒感染调控，为对抗类病毒疾病提供新的知识，最终为未来抗病毒药物的筛选奠定坚实的基础。结构介导的细胞内和细胞间类病毒传播的基本知识将提供对RNA运动和宿主-病毒相互作用的一般理解。这项研究将建立一系列先进的新方法，这些方法可以应用于其他生物。这项研究提出的新框架将很容易适用于研究其他植物或动物病毒rna。

Viruses constantly threaten humans, livestock, and crops. Many viruses have RNA genomes. In the most extreme case, noncoding RNAs alone (i.e., viroids) can infect crops leading to production losses. Taking oil palm and coconut palm as an example, ~40 million palms were killed by viroids between 1980 to 2007 due to the lack of effective treatments. Additionally, varying temperatures can affect viroid titre and symptom severity. Warm temperatures lead to more severe foliage symptoms and significant potato yield loss by viroid infection. It has been projected that climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risks and poses risks of new viroid and virus outbreaks. Therefore, it is timely to explore potential solutions for informing sustainable agriculture in the future.This proposal builds on recent breakthroughs in both UK and US groups and aims to transform the current knowledge on viroid RNA structure architecture. This proposal will develop advanced methods to decipher both spatial and temporal RNA structure landscapes of viroids in living plant cells. Then we will assess the functional importance of these RNA structure features in viroid infection. We will deliver novel RNA structure-mediated regulation of viroid infection, offering new knowledge for combating viroid disease to ultimately lay a solid foundation for future screening of anti-viroid drugs. The fundamental knowledge of structure-mediated intracellular and intercellular viroid transmission will provide a general understanding of RNA movement and host-virus interactions. This proposed research will establish a series of advanced novel methods where these methods could be applied to other organisms. The novel framework generated from this proposed research will be readily applicable in studying other plant or animal viral RNAs.