Project description:A Study of Mosquitoes of Makiling Forest Reserve Areas with Characteristic Land Use and Survey of their Arbovirus Diversity through Vector-enabled Virome Sequencing (VEVS)
Project description:The emergence of mosquito-borne diseases because of climate change emphasizes the need to study arbovirus-vector protein-protein interactions (PPI) to better understand viral replication and transmission. One such human pathogenic arbovirus is Zika virus (ZIKV; Flaviviridae), transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. With the lack of molecular tools to study mosquito cells, we developed an Ae. aegypti AF5 cell line stably expressing ZIKV capsid to investigate PPI through label-free quantification proteomics. We identified 157 interactors with 8 potentially pro-viral during ZIKV infection and showed that the transitional endoplasmic reticulum 94 (TER94) protein of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) was important during ZIKV infection in mosquito cells. Silencing TER94 in AF5 cells prevented ZIKV capsid degradation and significantly reduced the establishment of replication at the early stages of infection. Human TER94 ortholog, valosin containing protein (VCP), identified through ortholog mapping, was found to have a similar function during ZIKV infection in A549 cells. ZIKV had reduced ability to replicate when ubiquitination and VCP function were blocked by chemical inhibitors. Furthermore, ubiquitin protein ligase E3 component n-recognin 5 (UBR5) was identified as a TER94/VCP co-factor for capsid interaction. Our study demonstrates a conserved function for TER94/VCP-UPP during early ZIKV infection in mosquito and human cells.
2021-03-21 | PXD020565 | Pride
Project description:Mycobacterium ulcerans with Aedes notoscriptus mosquitoes in southeast Australia
| PRJNA966648 | ENA
Project description:High-throughput sequenceing of soil micromiome in southeast Australia
| PRJNA1005678 | ENA
Project description:Metatranscriptomics of Drosophila simulans in Western Australia
Project description:The history of human settlement in Southeast Asia has been complex and involved several distinct dispersal events. Here we report the analyses of 1825 individuals from Southeast Asia including new genome-wide genotype data for 146 individuals from three Mainland Southeast Asian (Burmese, Malay and Vietnamese) and four Island Southeast Asian (Dusun, Filipino, Kankanaey and Murut) populations. While confirming the presence of previously recognized major ancestry components in the Southeast Asian population structure, we highlight the Kankanaey Igorots from the highlands of the Philippine Mountain Province as likely the closest living representatives of the source population that may have given rise to the Austronesian expansion. This conclusion rests on independent evidence from various analyses of autosomal data and uniparental markers.
Project description:Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei are both potential biological threats agents. Melioidosis caused by B. pseudomallei is endemic in Southeast Asia and Northern Australia, while glanders caused by B. mallei infections are rare. Here we studied the proteomes of different B. mallei and B. pseudomallei isolates to determine species specific characteristics. Analyzing the expressed proteomes of B. mallei and B. pseudomallei revealed differences between B. mallei and B. pseudomallei but also between isolates from the same species. Expression of multiple virulence factors and proteins of several PKS/NRPS clusters was demonstrated. Proteome analysis can be used not only to identify bacteria but also to characterize the expression of important factors that putatively contribute to pathogenesis of B. mallei and B. pseudomallei.