Investigation of the interaction between Ebola virus and the host

Garcia-Dorival, GI ORCID: 0000-0002-5654-5662 (2016) Investigation of the interaction between Ebola virus and the host. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

Ebola viruses cause viral haemorrhagic fever in humans and non human primates. Due to the severity of their symptoms, the lack of an approved treatment or vaccine, and the mechanism of transmission, these viruses have been classified as containment level 4 (CL4) pathogens. In December 2013, an Ebola virus outbreak initiated in West Africa, which lasted more than two years, and has been considered the worst outbreak in the history of the Ebola viruses. More than twenty-seven thousand people had a positive diagnosis of infection with more than eleven thousand confirmed dead. This outbreak highlights not only the urgent necessity for new treatments and vaccines against this virus but also that there is still a large knowledge gap for Ebola viruses compared to other pathogens. This thesis focuses on using high resolution approaches to characterise the interaction between the Zaire ebolavirus species (EBOV) and the host. The work focuses on using high resolution sequencing to characterise the evolution of EBOV throughout the outbreak in West Africa and also in adapting to grow in a novel host. The work also focuses on two viral proteins that are critical to the virus life cycle. The VP24 protein that is an interferon antagonist and the nucleoprotein (NP) which encapsidates the viral genome. Quantitative proteomics was used to identify host cell proteins that interacted with these viral proteins and inhibitors were used to ablate cellular protein function and monitor the effect on viral biology. The thesis is written in the style of ‘by publication’ and the publications associated with this work are reproduced in the Appendix.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Divisions:	Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	12 Dec 2016 16:47
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 07:32
DOI:	10.17638/03002887
Supervisors:	Hiscox, Prof
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002887