Genomik nutzen, um PRRSV zu bekämpfen

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an economically important pig pathogen significantly impacting animal health, productivity and welfare. Prophylactic and treatment options are currently limited, partially due to the difficulty to study virus-host interactions in vitro since appropriate cell culture systems . To advance the breeding of disease resistant animals, optimize vaccination strategies and develop specific inhibitors, an in-depth knowledge of host cell factors essential for PRRSV infection is fundamental. This project aims to enhance our understanding of the host genes critical for PRRSV infection to develop new strategies to combat PRRSV. Our project consortium will combine transnational interdisciplinary expertise in virology, genome editing and bioinformatics. We will exploit genomics tools and a novel porcine alveolar macrophage cell line (iMAC) to provide the research community with host cell factors essential for the PRRSV replication cycle and novel tools for genomic screens and genetic modification of pigs. The specific objectives of our project are (1) optimisation and comparison of porcine libraries for genome wide knock-out (KO) screens; (2) identification of essential host factors in iMAC, green monkey derived MARC-145 cells and pimary porcine alveloar machrophages by KO screens; (3) functional association of identified factors with the interactome of already known PRRSV host factors and genetic traits associated with increased resistance to PRRSV infection; (4) functional characterization of novel host factors; (5) generation of optimised vectors for genome modification in porcine (primary) cells. The novel iMAC cell line, genome-wide sgRNA libraries, and improved vectors will be valuable resources for broader research, including studies on other porcine pathogens and xenograft research. This could significantly advance our capabilities in pig health research and PRRSV management

FWF Europäische Partnerschaft EUPAHW 2025

Zentrum für Biologische Wissenschaften

École normale supèrieure
Funktion: Projektleitung
Abteilung: Department de Biologie
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Funktion: Partner
Abteilung: Centre for Integrative Genetics

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