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Host-acquired virus genes support an ancient antiviral role of the piRNA pathway in dipterans

Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) have been recently investigated as a source of transgenerational immune memory. These “viral fossils” are abundant in Aedes mosquitoes and partner with the host’s primary antiviral defense system, the RNA interference (RNAi) pathways. This partnership appears unique to mosquitoes, which encode an expansion of the Piwi endoribonucleases. To interrogate EVE-Piwi partnerships and their role in antiviral defense, I performed a comparative small RNA analysis of two naturally occurring EVE-virus pairs – one in the mosquito Aedes albopictus, and one in the midge Chaoborus americanus. Both express an EVE related to the nucleoprotein of their respective bunyavirus. My results show that Piwis generally do not have antiviral functions in Chaoborus, however EVEs are associated with Piwi recruitment to matched viral RNAs. These findings raise the possibility that RNAi-mediated EVE-virus interactions may be more common among insects than currently recognized.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-6745
Date12 May 2023
CreatorsChristian, Rebecca
PublisherScholars Junction
Source SetsMississippi State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations

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