Investigating the mechanism of influenza virus translation (360G-Wellcome-203893_Z_15_A)

When viruses infect a cell, they need to hijack host machinery to produce their own proteins from mRNA, in a process called translation. The host cell requires several factors for translation, including proteins called eukaryotic initiation factors (eIFs). EIF4F plays a central role in this process and is a complex made up of the proteins eIF4A, eIF4G, and eIF4E. Together, these proteins act along with other factors to recruit the cellular machinery required for translation to begin. Influenza can promote the translation of its own proteins whilst host protein synthesis is impaired. As viral and host mRNA are highly similar, influenza virus was thought to only use the same mechanism of translation as the host. However several findings, such as the fact that influenza can translate its proteins without eIF4E, suggest that this is not the case. My hypothesis is that influenza can employ a different mechanism of translation from the host. I will use several RNA/protein analysis approaches to identify the key components required for influenza translation, and attempt to dissect the mechanism(s) of translation used by influenza. Identifying key differences between host and viral processes is important for identifying novel therapeutic targets.