Cell-based RNAi screening helps reveal host-microbe interactions--two new screen reports

November 19, 2018
Cartoon of fly host cells with virus or endosymbiotic bacteria

Laboratories at the Skirball Institute at New York University and the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University reported results of two different cell-based Drosophila RNAi screens in papers published this week. The screens have in common that they looked at interactions between the host insect cells and a microbe -- the endosymbiont Wolbachia in one study and baculovirus in the other. For more, check out the newly published studies. For both these screens, the DRSC provided libraries for screens that were then performed at the host institution.

 

Grobler Y, Yun CY, Kahler DJ, Bergman CM, Lee H, Oliver B, Lehmann R. Whole genome screen reveals a novel relationship between Wolbachia levels and Drosophila host translation. PLoS Pathog. 2018 Nov 13;14(11):e1007445. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1007445. PMID: 30422992.
Hodgson JJ, Buchon N, Blissard GW. Identification of insect genes involved in baculovirus AcMNPV entry into insect cells. Virology. 2018 Nov 13;527:1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2018.10.022. PMID: 30445201.