Dr Andrew Davidson
Senior Lecturer in Virology
School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine,
University of Bristol, Medical Sciences Building,
Bristol, BS8 1TD
phone: +44 (0)117 33 12024 (internal 12024)
email: andrew.davidson@bristol.ac.uk
group: Virology - dengue virus research group
Research interests
Research activities in the laboratory focus on investigating the replication and pathogenesis of Dengue virus and SARS coronavirus with an overall aim of developing improved antiviral agents and vaccines.
Dengue virus:
The dengue viruses are spread by mosquitoes and infect up to 50 million individuals annually in sub-tropical and tropical regions of the world. Dengue disease has emerged as the most important arthropod-borne viral disease of humans. Dengue virus infection generally results in dengue fever, a debilitating but self limited febrile disease. However, complications may arise, leading to the potentially fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndromes (DHF/DSS). Despite intensive research over recent years, the pathogenesis of DHF/DSS is still poorly understood and there is neither a safe and effective vaccine nor suitable anti-viral treatments to control dengue disease.
Current investigations in the laboratory focus on understanding the role of specific viral proteins in the virus lifecycle and the role they play in perturbing host cellular processes. Our studies use a dengue virus reverse genetic system, in combination with structural, biochemical and high throughput proteomic approaches to achieve these aims.
SARS coronavirus:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a novel disease of humans that emerged in Southern China in late 2002 and rapidly spread worldwide causing ~ 8000 cases and 700 deaths. The etiological agent of SARS is a coronavirus which are enveloped, positive-strand RNA viruses that are commonly associated with enteric and respiratory diseases. Although the initial SARS epidemic was controlled by conventional measures, the animal reservoir for the SARSCoV progenitor has not been identified. It is therefore possible that SARS-CoV or a related virus could be reintroduced into the human population in the future. When this happens, the most economical and effective way to contain the virus will be the therapeutic use of an antiviral compound. In collaboration with Professor Siddell we are using a reverse genetic approach to understand the replication, pathogenesis and evolution of SARS-CoV.
Selected Publications
- Chang, G.H., Oliver, E., Stanton, I., Wilson, M., Luo, B. J., Lin, L., Davidson, A. and Siddell, S. (2010) Genetic analysis of murine hepatitis virus non-structural protein 16. Journal of General Virology 92, 122-127.
- Charlier, N., Davidson, A., Dallmeier, K., Molenkamp, R., De Clercq, E., and Neyts, J. (2010) Replication of non known vector flaviviruses in mosquito cells is restricted by intracellular host factors rather than by the viral envelope proteins. Journal of General Virology 91, 1693-1697.
- Lee, E., Leang, S.K., Davidson, A. and Lobigs, M. (2010) Both E protein glycans adversely affect dengue virus infectivity but are beneficial for virion release. Journal of Virology 84, 5171-5180.
- Massé, N., Davidson, A., Ferron, F., Alvarez, K., Jacobs, M., Romette, J-L., Canard, B. and Guillemot, J-C. (2010) Dengue virus replicons: production of an interserotypic chimera and cell lines from different species, and establishment of a cell-based fluorescent assay to screen inhibitors, validated by the evaluation of ribavirin’s activity. Antiviral Research 86, 296-305.
- Kroschewski, H., Sagripanti, J-L and Davidson A. D. (2009) Identification of amino acids in the dengue virus type 2 envelope glycoprotein critical to virus infectivity. Journal of General Virology 90, 2457-2461.
- Mazzon, M., Jones, M., Davidson, A., Chain, B. and Jacobs, M. (2009) Dengue virus NS5 inhibits interferon-α signalling by blocking STAT2 phosphorylation. Journal of Infectious Disease 200, 1261-1270.
- Davidson, A.D. (2009) New insights into flavivirus nonstructural protein 5. Advances in Virus Research 74, 41-101.
- Kroschewski, K., Lim, S. P., Butcher, R.E., Yap, T.L., Lescar, J., Wright, P.J., Vasudevan, S.G. and Davidson, A.D. (2008) Mutagenesis of the Dengue virus type 2 NS5 methyltransferase domain. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 19410-19421.
- Pryor, M.J., Rawlinson, S.M., Butcher, R.E., Barton, C.L., Waterhouse, T.A., Vasudevan, S.G., Bardin, P.G., Wright, P.J., Jans, D.A. and Davidson, A.D. (2007) Nuclear localization of dengue virus NS5 through its importin α/β–recognized NLS is integral to viral infection. Traffic 8, 795-807.
- Malet, H., Egloff, M-P., Selisko, B., Butcher, R.E., Wright, P.J., Roberts, M., Gruez, A., Sulzenbacher, G., Vonrhein, C., Bricogne, G., Mackenzie, J.M., Khromykh, A.A., Davidson, A.D. and Canard, B. (2007) Crystal Structure of the RNA Polymerase Domain of the West Nile Virus Non-Structural Protein 5. J. Biol. Chem. 282, 10678-10689.
View all publications held on the University of Bristol's IRIS database