Our lab has a broad focus on how plants interact at the molecular, cellular and organismal level with a diverse range of viruses in disease and defense.
We have a particular interest in how selected plant resilience pathways are integrated into viral disease processes. These include mRNA and virus regulation by RNA granules termed processing bodies and stress granules, RNA silencing, the ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy. In the image upper-left corner there is a non-infected Arabidopsis thaliana (our main plant model), together with 12 different viral species/strains that are being studied in the lab. We believe that comparative virology will be key to many intriguing discoveries. By another approach, we also try to understand virus disease by utilizing Arabidopsis natural genetic variation including genome-wide association studies for unbiased identification of novel plant genes working in viral disease responses. Interested? You are most welcome to read about our recent work in our publications and pre-prints listed below or visit our lab homepage.
Group members:
Anders Hafrén, PhD, Principal Investigator, anders.hafren@slu.se
Gesa Hoffmann, PhD candidate
Aayushi Shukla, PhD, postdoctoral researcher
Former members:
Silvia López-González, PhD, postdoctoral researcher
Selected publications:
Aayushi Shukla, Gesa Hoffmann, Nirbhay Kumar Kushwaha, Silvia López-González, Daniel Hofius & Anders Hafrén (2021) Salicylic acid and the viral virulence factor 2b regulate the divergent roles of autophagy during cucumber mosaic virus infection, Autophagy, DOI:10.1080/15548627.2021.1987674.
Gesa Hoffmann, Amir Mahboubi, Damien Garcia, Johannes Hanson and Anders Hafrén (2021). Cauliflower Mosaic Virus Utilizes Processing Bodies to Escape Translational Repression in Arabidopsis. BioRxiv DOI:10.1101/2021.06.09.447751.
Aayushi Shukla, Suyaib Ustun and Anders Hafrén (2021). Proteasome homeostasis is essential for a robust cauliflower mosaic virus infection. BioRxiv DOI:10.1101/2021.03.24.436740.
Aayushi Shukla, Gesa Hoffmann, Daniel Hofius and Anders Hafrén A (2021). Turnip crinkle virus targets host ATG8 proteins to attenuate antiviral autophagy. BioRxiv, DOI:10.1101/2021.03.28.437395.
Aayushi Shukla, Silvia López-González, Gesa Hoffmann Anders Hafrén (2019). Diverse plant viruses: a toolbox for dissection of cellular pathways. Journal of Experimental Botany, DOI:10.1093/jxb/erz122.
