NEWCLEAR - Understanding the viral subversion of the nucleus

01/10/2025 to 30/09/2029

Viruses take control of the cells they infect to ensure their own multiplication and spread. My group studies how this happens during the plant infection by geminiviruses, DNA viruses causing devastating diseases in crops worldwide. We have recently found that these viruses trigger a dramatic reorganization of the nucleus in the infected cell, whereby the plant DNA is evicted to the nuclear periphery and a viral replication factory is established in its center, selectively including the viral DNA and the plant and viral proteins required for its replication. Interestingly, similar observations have been made in animal-infecting viruses with DNA genomes and nuclear replication, although mechanistic insight is scarce. This project aims to understand the processes leading to the formation of this novel nuclear structure as well as its implications for both viral and host biology in plants and animals. To tackle this goal, two important enabling initiatives are planned: first, the expansion of our model viruses to human viruses known to induce these nuclear changes, therefore expanding the research system in the laboratory beyond plants; second, the acquisition of a laser-assisted microdissection system, which would allow the isolation of nuclei at specific stages of viral replication factory formation, an essential step to assess the effect of this new structure at the molecular level. These approaches will shed new light on the nuclear subversion by viruses, and pave the way to new antiviral strategies potentially applicable across kingdoms.