Research Groups
Molecular Virology
Research Interests and Description
Description of Research
The main focus of the laboratory is the molecular biology of virus-host interactions and the biotechnological exploitation of this knowledge. To pursue these aims the lab takes advantage of different experimental approaches. Great effort is devoted to the implementation of techniques that enable the visualization of virus-host interactions at high resolution and in living cells. During the past few years, the lab, in addition to standard techniques such as FRET and FRAP, has developed a novel method to visualize viral RNAs in living cells. It has been observed, for example, that tick-borne encephalitis (TBEV) replicated RNA occurred in discrete foci within the cell’s cytoplasm (see Figure). This experimental setting is used to measure the trafficking of viral RNA and the assembly of factors at the replication sites in living cells in real time. Similar approaches are being applied to the study of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication. Proteomic techniques to identify novel host factors that control viral infection as well as chromatin conformation capture (3C), and 3D FISH techniques to study the sub-nuclear organization of HIV-1 transcription have also been implemented. In summary, the laboratory has developed a platform of techniques that has enabled the study of the virus-host crosstalk from single protein-protein interactions to the 3D dynamics of host and viral components in living cells.
Recent Publications
Maiuri, P., Knezevich, A., De Marco, A., Mazza, D., Kula, A., McNally, J., Marcello, A. 2011. Fast transcription rates of RNA Polymerase II in human cells. EMBO Reports doi: 10.1038 PubMed link
Bartolomei, G., Cevik, R.E., Marcello, A. 2011. Modulation of hepatitis C virus replication by iron and hepcidin in Huh7 hepatocytes. J Gen Virol 92, 2072-2081 PubMed link
Kula, A., Guerra, J., Knezevich, A., Kleva, D., Myers, M.P., Marcello, A. 2011. Characterization of the HIV-1 RNA associated proteome identifies Matrin 3 as a nuclear cofactor of Rev function. Retrovirology 8, 60 PubMed link
Maiuri, P., Knezevich, A., Bertrand, E., Marcello, A. 2010. Real-time imaging of the HIV-1 transcription cycle in single living cells. Methods 53, 62-67 PubMed link
Dieudonné, M., Maiuri, P., Biancotto, C., Knezevich, A., Kula, A., Lusic, M., Marcello, A. 2009. Transcriptional competence of the integrated HIV-1 provirus at the nuclear periphery. EMBO J 28, 2231-2243 PubMed link
Miorin, L., Maiuri, P., Hoenninger, V.M., Mandl, C.W., Marcello, A. 2008. Spatial and temporal organization of tick-borne encephalitis flavivirus replicated RNA in living cells. Virology 379, 64-77 PubMed link
