Innate immunity to HIV-1 and other retroviruses

Venue: Polo Ferrari 2. via Sommarive 9 (Povo) – Room B104
Time: 16:30

Speaker

• Jeremy Luban - University of Massachusetts Medical Scool

Abstract:

Retrovirus replication requires that the virus integrate a cDNA copy of its genome into host cell chromosomal DNA. Nearly 10% of the human genome consists of such retroviral integrants from the distant past. The integration process is mutagenic and though it has the potential to be adaptive it will more likely wreak havoc on the genome. It stands to reason that cells would therefore protect their genome by expressing factors that block retroviral replication. I this talk, I will tell two stories about host factors that protect the genome from retroviral integration. The first story involves host proteins that recognize the virion core early after virus entry into the host cytoplasm and thereby regulate reverse transcription. The second story concerns retrovirus RNA-specific protection of germ cells.