A Hearing-Associated Gene is Unexpectedly Unregulated During Dengue Virus Infection
Bush-Nickerson, Ashley
Bush-Nickerson, Ashley
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Abstract
Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that infects approximately 400 million individuals annually and exists as four antigenically distinct serotypes, DENV-1 through DENV-4. While host transcriptional responses are known to shape viral replication dynamics and disease outcomes, many host genes induced during infection remain functionally uncharacterized in this context. Otoferlin (OTOF), a gene canonically associated with calcium-dependent vesicle fusion at auditory hair cells, has been identified as significantly upregulated during acute DENV infection; however, its role in flaviviral biology is largely unexplored. This study aimed to determine whether OTOF upregulation is serotype-specific and whether its expression correlates with viral replication levels. HAP-1 cells were infected with each DENV serotype and cell pellets were collected at multiple timepoints over 72 hours post-infection. mRNA was extracted, converted to cDNA, and analyzed by RT-qPCR using the ??Ct method to quantify both OTOF expression and viral genome copies. OTOF was upregulated early during infection across all four serotypes, suggesting that its induction reflects a conserved host response rather than being serotype-specific. Notably, while viral replication continuously accumulated over the post-infection timepoints, OTOF expression did not mirror this pattern, indicating that OTOF activation is not directly coupled to viral replication kinetics. These findings suggest that OTOF may function as part of a broader antiviral signaling program during DENV infection. Ongoing work in the Diehl laboratory is investigating OTOF expression across additional cell types and in the context of other flaviviruses, including Zika virus, to further define its role in the host antiviral response.
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Date
1/1/2026
Student Status
Junior (Graduating in 2027)
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Poster
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Molecular Genetics
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College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
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Life Science