SOURCE-LINKED INTELLIGENCE

The Inner Galapagos – Molecular Ecology of the Retroviral-piRNA Arms Race

CORDIS · observation · Publication date unknown

germ cells from surrounding somatic cells as viral particles to multiply in the germline genome. Through a multidisciplinary approach that combines host and transposon genetics, single-cell genomics, machine learning, and controlled transposon invasion experiments, we will investigate how transposon-host interactions create biological diversity by driving molecular innovations on both sides. Specifically, the project aims to uncover (i) how infectious ERVs exploit cell biological processes in the host gonad for their soma-to-germline transmission, (ii) how ERVs diversify their compact cis-regulatory elements to optimally adapt their expression to the host, and (iii) how the host transposon defence system exploits an Achilles' heel of ERVs, their unusual nucleotide composition, to silence both old and new genome invaders. The ERVolution project provides a unique opportunity to uncover general principles of transposon-host interactions by studying the molecular and evolutionary processes of a major battle between multiple transposons and an experimentally accessible host model organism

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recordType

award

status

SIGNED

region

EU

value

2498943

unit

EUR