Newton Lab
Principal Investigator: Irene Newton
Institution: Indiana University (Bloomington, IN)
Primary Subfield: Immunology
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Wolbachia pipientis is an obligate intracellular alpha-proteobacterium that infects 40-60% of insect species on the planet. Wolbachia infection inhibits RNA virus replication in insects, a phenomenon known as pathogen blocking. Therefore, Wolbachia infected mosquitos are being released in many parts of the world to control the spread of human diseases. Importantly, although the mechanism behind Wolbachia’s virus inhibition is not known, Wolbachia must manipulate host biology to infect new hosts, persist, and be transmitted to the next generation. Our long-term goals are to identify the molecular toolkit used by Wolbachia to establish infection and the host targets of these tools; to define the co-evolution of that molecular interface. To that end, we focus on the ankyrin repeat containing proteins found in Wolbachia proteomes. Our hypothesis is that via these effectors, the host cell is modified, allowing Wolbachia to invade and persist. Our preliminary data identified multiple ankyrin repeat containing proteins in Wolbachia (WARPs) and established their phenotypes in Drosophila melanogaster. Wolbachia strain wMel encodes 25 such proteins and we see strikin…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01AI178815-02: Defining the molecular interface of Wolbachia Ankyrin-host interaction (2026)
- 5R01AI144430-08: Identifying Wolbachia effectors that facilitate host infection (2026)
- 1R01AI178815-01A1: Defining the molecular interface of Wolbachia Ankyrin-host interaction (2025)
- 5R01AI144430-07: Identifying Wolbachia effectors that facilitate host infection (2025)
- 2R01AI144430-06: Identifying Wolbachia effectors that facilitate host infection (2024)
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