SPP 1596:  Ecology and Species Barriers in Emerging Viral Diseases

• Subject Area: Medicine ; Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine ; Biology
• Term: from 2013 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 198576642

The field of emerging viruses is gaining tremendous interest in the scientific community. However, the large diversity of agents and the necessity to work across disciplines remains an unmet challenge. Whereas the collaboration between human and veterinary medicine has been identified as an approach to opening the perspective on zoonotic disease agents, this "One Health" approach remains restricted to a medical perspective. Beyond, there has been little collaboration between fundamental disciplines relevant to the topic, specifically fundamental virology and fundamental zoology/ecology. Even though pathogen emergence and evolution is addressed in both disciplines, there are significant gaps between both disciplines in the mutual understanding of methodology, the formulation of concepts and hypotheses, as well as the use of a common terminology and language. The projects included in this Priority Programme will enhance our understanding of pathogen evolution and epidemic emergence. Through novel clues to natural virus-host interactions we hope to discover novel disease models and obtain better insight into viral infections in humans. In the field of zoology and ecology, the inclusion of virus parameters in population and habitat studies will open a novel perspective on mechanisms that precipitate in the rapidly-involving timescale of virus evolution. The Priority Programme coordinates groups with a genuine interest in virus-host interactions beyond medical application. The spectrum of work includes studies on habitat use and life history traits, comparative immunological studies, as well as host restriction in the viral life cycle. A common goal is in the search for a more traceable definition of the abstract concept of species barrier.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• International Connection: Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Netherlands, Panama, Switzerland

Projects

• Antivirally active factors of the type I interferon systems of small mammals (Applicants Kochs, Georg ;  Weber, Friedemann )
• Ecology and species barriers in emerging viral diseases - Proposal for the coordination of DFG priority program (SPP) 1596 - (Applicant Drosten, Christian )
• Ecology and species barriers of emerging bat hepatitis B viruses (Applicants Drexler, Jan Felix ;  Glebe, Dieter ;  Tschapka, Marco )
• Ecology of Lassa virus and related arenaviruses in the natural host Mastomys natalensis (Applicants Günther, Stephan ;  Leirs, Herwig )
• Emergence and host switching in insect picorna-like viruses: wild and managed bee species as a model host community (Applicant Paxton, Robert )
• Hantaviruses: crossing the species barrier of natural hosts (Applicants Krüger, Detlev H. ;  Ulrich, Rainer G. )
• Induction and Suppression of antiviral RNAi pathways by mosquito-specific and mosquito-borne viruses (Applicants Junglen, Sandra ;  van Rij, Ronald )
• Influence of host ecology, social system and phylogeny on the genetic covariation of viruses and hosts, and on virus prevalences, within and between bat species (Applicants Groschup, Martin ;  Kerth, Gerald )
• Investigations of filovirus propagation and cellular defense mechanisms against filoviruses in the reservoir host Rousettus aegyptiacus and other fruit bat species (Applicant Becker, Stephan )
• Molecular determinants of alphavirus vector competence (Applicants Kümmerer, Beate ;  Pfeffer, Martin )
• Necessity of adaptation of RNA viruses in host switching events between taxonomically distant reservoir animals (Applicant Müller, Marcel )
• Non-coding RNAs as barriers in emerging viral infections (Applicant Marz, Manja )
• Out of the reservoir: identification and characterization of viral and host factors governing the pathobiology of zoonotic cowpox viruses (Applicants Beer, Martin ;  Osterrieder, Nikolaus )
• Phylogenetic and experimental reconstruction of zoonotic transmission of human coronaviruses (Applicant Drosten, Christian )
• Processes and mechanisms driving virus prevalence, evolutionary potential and emergence from wildlife reservoirs: integrating host and viral traits in a multi-taxa approach across landscapes (Applicants Drosten, Christian ;  Junglen, Sandra ;  Kerth, Gerald ;  Sommer, Simone ;  Tschapka, Marco )
• REsilience and VIrus ecology of paleotropical BAts (REVIBA) (Applicant Voigt, Christian C. )
• Role of importin-alpha isoforms in MERS-Coronavirus interspecies transmission and subsequent infection of the human respiratory tract (Applicant Gabriel, Gülsah )
• Surface glycoproteins G and F of an African bat henipavirus: Functional characterization and importance for interspecies transmission (Applicant Herrler, Georg )
• Variation in cardioviruses in rats and Microcebus griseorufus as a rodent-primate model for interspecific transmission of viruses (Applicant Ganzhorn, Jörg U. )
• Vector competence for TBEV replication limiting viral spread (VECTORS) (Applicant Becker, Stefanie Christine )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Christian Drosten