My Project’s goal is to design mutants of eukaryotic initiation factor 4E, with the purpose of getting a mutant that will not bind to viruses that contain a PTE-like cap-independent translation element within their positive RNA. In addition to not binding to the viruses, the mutant must also be able to still function normally within the plant. In other words it still needs to be able to form a eIF4F (a protein complex composed of several initiation factors) and bind to the 7’ methyl cap on the host’s RNA. The purpose of this research is to further understand how the viruses and the proteins interact, and to provide a way to engineer plants resistant to this type of virus.
Duration: 05/13/2020
Principal Investigator(s):