Séminaire CIRI : Dr. Pierre-Yves LOZACH

Pierre-Yves LOZACH (IVPC Lyon - France): "Rift Valley fever virus and its fabulous NSs protein: a model to study amyloid aggregation and functions? "

Abstract: Rift Valley fever is a mosquito-borne viral zoonosis that was first discovered in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, in 1930. Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) primarily infects domestic animals and humans, with clinical outcomes ranging from self-limiting febrile illness to acute hepatitis and encephalitis. The virus left Africa a few decades ago, and there is a risk of introduction into southern Europe and Asia. In this seminar, I will introduce RVFV and address the capacity of its virulence factor, the nonstructural protein NSs, to form amyloid-like fibrils based on analysis by state-of-the-art microscopy techniques in fixed and living cells and in animals. I will then discuss the implications for (i) the NSs biological function, (ii) the ability of the virus to evade innate immunity, and (iii) RVFV virulence and neurotoxicity.