Virology Commons^™

Investigating The Escape Mechanism Of Sre Bearing Mrna Transcripts During Viral Host Shutoff, Daniel Macveigh-Fierro

Doctoral Dissertations

During viral infection, the virus and host clash for control over gene expression in an evolutionarily arms race that has raged for thousands of years. During lytic replication, Kaposi’s sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) triggers a massive RNA decay event known as host shut off. This causes over 70% of all RNA to be degraded suppressing the host antiviral response while freeing resources for viral replication. Our lab focuses on a subset of transcripts that escape from this viral degradation event using a cis acting 3’ UTR element known as a “SOX resistant element” or SRE. Although we have identified a …