Iria Otero Romero, PhD CiQUS student, defended today her doctoral thesis entitled «The avian reovirus muNS protein as biotechnological tool. AdvanceS in the IC-Tagging system and application in vaccines». Professors Javier Benavente and José M. Martínez Costas, both CiQUS researchers, have been the supervisors of this work.
Avian reoviruses are non-enveloped viruses with a double-stranded RNA genome. To increase the efficiency of their replicative cycle, they create protein inclusion bodies in the cytoplasm of the infected cell, called viroplasms or viral factories.
The studies conducted in laboratory on muNS inclusions resulted in the development of a molecular tagging method for proteins called "IC-Tagging", with different biotechnological applications. It is also showed that this methodology is useful for the study of protein-protein interactions in vivo and for the purification of functionally active proteins
In the study presented in this thesis, the research group continue the characterization of this system, expanding their possibilities and fields of application. New solutions are proposed to facilitate the use of IC-Tagging for applications in vivo. The generation, purification and stability of the inclusions which form the basis of the system is improved. It is also developed a method for studying viral morphogenesis in vitro. Finally, the group demonstrate that the inclusions generated by IC-Tagging are a potent and versatile method for building subunit vaccines that do not require adjuvants.
