Arbovirus-Host Interaction

Project Leader: Richard Hardy

Arthropod-borne viruses are a cause of significant public health and economic burden. Worldwide billions of people live in areas at risk for Dengue virus and yellow fever virus infection. The recent introduction of West Nile virus into the U.S. demonstrates the potential for emergence of mosquito-borne pathogens in naive populations and the serious public health and economic problems associated with such events.

While a great deal of research has focused on the vertebrate response to virus infection, relatively little is know about the interaction between the virus and the arthropod host. In conjunction with the CGB we are using Drosophila, the model arthropod, to define the basal and tissue specific, intracellular responses to virus infection. Through a combination of genomic, proteomic, and genetic approaches host factor requirements for viral replication and specific host responses to viral infection are being determined.

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