Molecular insights into viral respiratory infections

The structure of the respiratory tract facilitates gas exchange between the exterior environment and interior milieu of the host, while it is a susceptible target and feasible gateway for diverse pathogens. Pandemics of severe acute respiratory infections have been serious threats to global health, causing significantly morbidity and mortality. In particular, the influenza viruses and coronaviruses (CoV), including MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, have caused numerous outbreaks of viral pneumonia worldwide with different impacts. To survive in the cells, viruses and pathogens usurp multiple host pathways to multiply and exit from the host cells. There are, however, still numerous critical questions how cells react to the viral infection and this understanding could provide the framework for the development of novel therapeutic strategies against the virus. Autophagy (greek "self-eating"), is essential for cell survival and it has been revealed that numerous microbes, including viruses, hijack autophagy in order to promote their life cycle. In this thesis, we have focused on acquiring new molecular insights into the viral replication of CoV, and investigated the relationship between influenza A virus (IAV) and autophagy