Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TransWNV (A transcriptomic approach to understand the avian genetic susceptibility to West Nile Virus infection)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2018-10-15 al 2020-10-14
WNV is maintained in nature in a natural cycle involving mosquitos that are the transmission vector and mostly feed on birds. When infected mosquitos bite humans they can get infected with WNV and get sick, but humans do not transmit the virus. The main challenge when studying WNV is that the virus has a very complex eco-epidemiology. It can infect multiple vertebrate host species and use multiple mosquito species as vectors. Regarding birds, it has been estimated that the virus can infect over 300 species only in North America. However, there is a wide range of variation in the susceptibility both within and across different bird species. As a consequence, the role each species plays in viral transmission, amplification, spillover to humans, and outbreaks varies greatly. To develop effective intervention strategies, it is critical to understand the underlying mechanisms and factors that influence the variation in disease susceptibility to WNV across species.
To fully understand why some hosts are affected by a pathogen while others are able to resist infections it is fundamental to understand the genetic basis of the immune response. The overarching goal of this project was to characterize how different bird species respond to WNV infections by looking at gene expression. This allowed us to gain insights into the avian immune response to the virus and uncover the genetic basis of susceptibility to WNV infection.
Work was conducted via 3 work packages that combined, scientific, training, and transfer of knowledge goals. During the fellowship, I have published 3 journal articles related to the research activity in this project (Ecosistemas 29:1969; Frontiers in Microbiology. 2020;11:3169; Environmental Research. 2021:110893) and one invited review (Molecular Ecology.29: 3809-3811). I expect to generate 2 additional publications from the data obtained in the last work package. In addition, I have also presented the project in a workshop. I have also carried out a number of outreach activities to communicate the results of the project beyond the scientific community. To this extend I have given 2 talks in elementary schools, I have presented a video, a talk, and an activity in the Night of European Researchers (2019 and 2020), I have given a talk at the Pint of Science 2019, and I have published one blog post on infectious diseases in the Blog of the Spanish Association of Terrestrial Ecology and a press article in the Diario de Sevilla. In addition, I have participated in the European Research Executive Agency #MyJobinResearch.
From a social perspective, with the development of multiple outreach activities, I have contributed to increasing awareness of the health problems associated with zoonotic diseases. In addition, the TRANSWNV project is the base for a future study led by the MSCA fellow which just received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. In this project genomics and ecology will be integrated to improve prediction, surveillance, and control of WNV Outbreaks in Southern Spain. As such, the present MSCA project has made an important contribution to the local communities that suffered the outbreak in summer 2020.