All viruses require a living host cell for their propagation. During infection, vital functions and resources of the host cell are used for virus reproduction. Some viruses may encode their own transcription and replication proteins, but all viruses depend on the host’s translation machinery for biosynthesis of viral proteins. Dependence on host’s translation is considered a key difference between cellular life forms and viruses, but still little is known about how viruses force the cell‘s ribosomes to synthesize their proteins. Recently, homologues of ribosomal genes have been detected in the genomes of eukaryotic and bacterial viruses (bacteriophages or phages), and it was shown that their encoded proteins can replace Escherichia coli ribosomal proteins. Cases are also known when viruses modify ribosomes through protein interactions or chemical modifications. However, the biological significance of such modifications is often unknown. The aim of this work is to study the mechanisms of ribosomes recruitment during lytic phage infection. The phage-host protein complexes, as well as protein-RNA complexes will be studied. Both, in vitro and in vivo studies using mutant phages and their hosts are foreseen. The knowledge obtained during this work will be important for understanding of protein biosynthesis regulation during viral infection.
Mokslinis vadovas / Supervisor: dr. Lidija Truncaitė
Kontaktai / Contacts:
tel. / phone: +370 650 41027
Programme: Biochemistry N 004