RNA Viruses Reshape the RNA Modification Landscape in the Cell

Presented By: Cara T. Pager, PhD

Speaker Biography: Dr. Cara Pager is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and The RNA Institute at the University at Albany-SUNY. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in Lexington and joined Dr. Peter Sarnow’s laboratory at Stanford University as a Damon Runyon postdoctoral fellow. The overarching theme of her lab is to understand the interactions and mechanisms by which single-stranded positive-sense RNA viruses subvert host RNA metabolism pathways. Dr. Pager’s research has shown that RNA-binding proteins localized in processing bodies and stress granules function to promote and limit Zika virus gene expression, and that Zika virus changes the way RNAs are spliced.

Webinar: RNA Viruses Reshape the RNA Modification Landscape in the Cell

Webinar Abstract: Ribonucleic acid (RNA) has a breathtaking variety of biological functions, which far exceeds its classical role as a carrier of genetic information. The repertoire of this versatile molecule is further diversified by covalent post-transcriptional modifications (PTMs) or chemical marks that decorate all four canonical nucleotides in mRNAs and noncoding RNAs. Although, methylation of the N6-position of adenosine (m6A) was recently shown to be a key regulator of viral gene expression and modulate nuclear export, expression, stability and packaging of viral genomic RNA, the role of the more than 170 other RNA modifications during viral infection is largely unknown. To investigate these other RNA modifications we employed an unbiased and comprehensive analytical approach based on mass spectroscopy to characterize the changes in the landscape of RNA modifications in the cell during virus infection as well as identify the epitranscriptomic marks on the RNA genomes of Zika virus.

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