Next Thursday 25 March 2021 12:00 am on the Zoom platform (online), Salvador Herrero (BIOTECMED - University of Valencia) will give a Seminar on "Insect Interactions with Viruses: What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger".
SEMINAR(i): Insect Interactions with Viruses: What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger.
WHO?: Salvador Herrero (BIOTECMED - University of Valencia).
LANGUAGE?: English.
WHEN?: Thursday 25/03/2020 - 12:00 am.
WHERE?: Online (Zoom platform)
ABSTRACT:
Lepidopteran insects are extensively exploited by parasitic wasps using them as oviposition hosts. However, lepidopteran insects are also commonly exposed to viral infections by large double-stranded DNA viruses, including baculovirus, entomopoxvirus and ascovirus. In addition, parasitic wasps require the action of symbiotic viruses to suppress the host immunity allowing the successful development of the parasite. Such multitrophic interactions among viruses, parasitoid wasps and their insect hosts results in overlapping of ecological niches among multiple genomes which may drive divergent evolutionary pressures and promote the exchange of genetic information through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). In this work we report the discovery of multiple events of gene acquisition and domestication of viral-derived genes by Lepidoptera. By deciphering the molecular function of the acquired genes, we provide evidences of HGT as important driving forces in the virus-parasitoid-lepidopteran host evolutionary arms race.
Salva Herrero is Associate Professor at Department of Genetics and researcher at Universitary Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (BIOTECMED) of the Universitat de Valencia.
Links:
Biotechnological Control of Pests Lab (CBPLab)
CBPLab Research on Insect-Pathogen Interaction
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