Viruses are parasites responsible for severe infections and have been implicated in a number of recent pandemics such as COVID-19 and AIDS. Despite more than a century of study, viruses are still poorly understood, which hampers the fight against epidemics. For example, when several identical cells are infected by the same virus at the same time, very different quantities of virus are produced from one cell to another. This diversity of behaviour could reflect the ability of viruses to adapt to their host cell in order to optimise their proliferation.
The aim of this project is therefore to study the ability of viruses to adapt to each host cell they infect, as well as to their environment. To this end, transcriptome sequencing on the scale of individual cells will be used to measure and quantify the expression of viral genes in each cell. This method will make it possible to study the role of different factors on the development of three viruses representative of three major virus families.
With the appearance of new viruses caused by global warming and the destruction of natural environments, this type of approach is essential as it will contribute to a more rapid understanding of these viruses and possibly to the development of new treatments.
