Manuel Garcia Moreno
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Current Research
I joined the Davis lab as a postdoctoral researcher last year. I aim to study the impact virus infection has on the development and function of the Drosophila nervous system and the interplay between host RNA-binding proteins and viral RNA in this context. I focus on RNA viruses from the Flaviviridae and Togaviridae families that are transmitted to humans by arthropod vectors and may lead to severe symptoms including neurological disorders, microcephaly and encephalitis.
Previous Work
Before joining the Davis lab, I worked in Dr. Alfredo Castello lab, also in the Department of Biochemistry (Oxford). My goal was to unravel protein-RNA and protein-protein interaction networks between pathogenic viruses (HIV-1 and Sindbis) and the host cell. I completed my PhD in the Severo Ochoa Centre for Molecular Biology in Madrid, Spain, under the supervision of Prof. Luis Carrasco. I investigated non-canonical translation initiation mechanisms of viral mRNAs.
Publications
Kamel W, Ruscica V, Garcia-Moreno M, Palmalux N, Iselin L, Hannan M, Järvelin AI, Noerenberg M, Moore S, Merits A, Davis I, Martinez J, Mohammed S, Castello A. Compositional analysis of Sindbis virus ribonucleoproteins reveals an extensive co-opting of key nuclear RNA-binding proteins. bioRxiv. 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.06.463336
Kamel W, Noerenberg M, Cerikan B, Chen H, Järvelin AI, Kammoun M, Lee JY, Shuai Ni, Garcia-Moreno M, Andrejeva A, Deery MJ, Johnson N, Neufeldt CJ, Cortese M, Knight ML, Lilley KS, Martinez J, Davis I, Bartenschlager R, Mohammed S, Castello A. Global analysis of protein-RNA interactions in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells reveals key regulators of infection. Mol Cell. 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2021.05.023
Dicker K, Järvelin AI, Garcia-Moreno M*, Castello A*. The importance of virion-incorporated cellular RNA-Binding Proteins in viral particle assembly and infectivity. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology. 2020 Sep 10;S1084-9521(20)30062-8. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2020.08.002. * corresponding authors
Phillips MA, Harkiolaki M, Susano Pinto DM, Parton RM, Palanca A, Garcia-Moreno M, Kounatidis I, Sedat JW, Stuart DI, Castello A, Booth MJ, Davis I, Dobbie IM. CryoSIM: super-resolution 3D structured illumination cryogenic fluorescence microscopy for correlated ultrastructural imaging. Optica. 2020, Vol. 7, Issue 7, pp. 802-812, https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.393203
Sanz MA, Almela EG, Garcia-Moreno M, Marina AI, Carrasco L. A viral RNA motif involved in signaling the initiation of translation on non-AUG codons. RNA. 2019 Apr;25(4):431-452. doi: 10.1261/rna.068858.118.
Garcia-Moreno M*, Noerenberg M*, Ni S*, Järvelin AI, González-Almela E, Lenz CE, Bach-Pages M, Cox V, Avolio R, Davis T, Hester S, Sohier TJM, Li B, Heikel G, Michlewski G, Sanz MA, Carrasco L, Ricci EP, Pelechano V, Davis I, Fischer B, Mohammed S, Castello A. System-wide Profiling of RNA-Binding Proteins Uncovers Key Regulators of Virus Infection. Molecular Cell. 2019 Apr 4;74(1):196-211.e11. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2019.01.017. * equal contribution
Garcia-Moreno M*, Järvelin AI*, Castello A. Unconventional RNA-binding proteins step into the virus-host battlefront. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews RNA. 2018 Nov;9(6):e1498. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1498. * equal contribution
Garcia-Moreno M*, Sanz MA and Carrasco L. A viral mRNA motif at the 3’-untranslated region that confers translatability in a cell-specific manner. Implications for virus evolution. Scientific Reports. 2016 Jan 12; 6:19217. doi: 10.1038/srep19217. * Corresponding author.
González-Almela E, Sanz MA, Garcia-Moreno M, Northcote P, Pelletier J and Carrasco L. Differential action of pateamine A on translation of genomic and subgenomic mRNAs from Sindbis virus. Virology. 2015 Jun 4; 484:41-50. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2015.05.002.
Sanz MA, Garcia-Moreno M and Carrasco L. Inhibition of host protein synthesis by Sindbis Virus: correlation with viral RNA replication and release of nuclear proteins to the cytoplasm. Cellular Microbiology. 2015 Apr; 17(4):520-41. doi: 10.1111/cmi.12381.
Garcia-Moreno M*, Sanz MA and Carrasco L. Initiation codon selection is accomplished by a scanning mechanism without crucial initiation factors in Sindbis Virus subgenomic mRNA. RNA. 2015 Jan; 21(1):93-112. doi: 10.1261/rna.047084.114. * Corresponding author.
Redondo N, Garcia-Moreno M, Sanz MA, Carrasco L. Translation of viral mRNAs that do not require eIF4E is blocked by the inhibitor 4EGI-1. Virology. 2013 Sep; 444(1-2):171-80. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2013.06.008.
Garcia-Moreno M, Sanz MA, Pelletier J, Carrasco L. Requirements for eIF4A and eIF2 during translation of Sindbis virus subgenomic mRNA in vertebrate and invertebrate host cells. Cellular microbiology. 2013 May; 15(5):823-40. doi: 10.1111/cmi.12079.
Sanz MA, Redondo N, Garcia-Moreno M, Carrasco L. Phosphorylation of eIF2α is responsible for the failure of the picornavirus internal ribosome entry site to direct translation from Sindbis virus replicons. Journal of General Virology. 2013 Apr; 94(Pt 4):796-806. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.049064-0.