Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
RNA viruses are a major cause or morbidity and mortality and some of them have increased their transmissibility by employing insect vectors to move themselves between hosts. The down side to this strategy is that they must be able to replicate in multiple hosts and are not able to just settle in with a single host for eternity. However, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase that produces the genomes for new virions lacks a proof reading mechanism and so many/most progeny differ from their parent. While this diversity gives a virus population the capacity to adapt rapidly to new environments, much of it is deleterious and may lead to extinction of some viral lineages. Just as individuals respond to a situation differently, and often unpredictably, when they are alone and when they are in a crowd, we lack the information to predict how a heterogeneous population of viruses will respond to different environments or in different hosts.
The aim of the project is to determine how the magnitude and change in the genetic diversity of populations of dengue and Ross River viruses relate to their patterns of transmission in nature.
Methods and techniques that will be developed in the course of this project:
- Cell culture
- Genome sequencing
- Phylogenetic analyses
- Epidemiology
- Study level
- Honours
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Contact
- Please contact the supervisor.
Professor John Aaskov
