The Mechanics of Viral Genomes: Single-Molecule Studies

California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Abstract

The research objective of this award is to develop a quantitative and mechanistic understanding of how the genomic material of viruses enters the cells they are infecting. Cells across all domains of life are subjected to infection by viruses. These viruses have a multitude of different lifestyles which often involve different ways of introducing their genes into the infected host. For some of these viruses, it has been hypothesized that mechanical forces resulting from the tightly-packaged DNA within the virus creates a pressure which injects the DNA into the host?s interior. Studies conducted under this award will test this hypothesis by using fluorescence microscopy to watch individual viruses inject their DNA into individual bacteria and to measure the rate of ejection. By using different drug treatments, the mechanics of the ejection process will be perturbed providing a picture of the molecular processes that drive DNA translocation. If successful, these studies will serve as a powerful example of the interplay between the physical processes that govern the lifestyles of viruses and their biological functions. Further, since the approach merges single-molecule experiments with mechanical models, it will help settle a long standing controversy about how viral infections occur. The research is tightly integrated with an educational plan that focuses on summer time courses in which undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs come to the awardee?s institution for an intensive fortnight of experiments using the study of viral ejection as a paradigm for single-molecule studies of biological processes which represent one of the biological frontiers of mechanics.