Project

The interferon-induced transmembrane (IFITM) proteins protect cells from diverse virus infections, including Influenza, HIV and Zika viruses, by inhibiting virus-cell fusion. We showed that IFITM proteins act additively in both productively infected cells and uninfected target cells to inhibit HIV-1 spread, potentially conferring these proteins with greater breadth and potency against enveloped viruses. We also reported that amino-terminal mutants of IFITM3 preventing ubiquitination or endocytosis are more abundantly incorporated into virions and exhibit enhanced inhibition of HIV-1 fusion. An analysis of primate genomes revealed that IFITM3 is the most ancient antiviral family member of the IFITM locus and has undergone a repeated duplication in independent host lineages. Some IFITM3 genes in nonhuman primates, including those that arose following gene duplication, carry amino-terminal mutations that modify protein localization and function. Our aim is to analyze the RNA levels of the various members of the IFITM family, in various normal or pathological human or animal tissues.