Development of Viral Vectors for Amphibian Gene Delivery and Manipulation

Amphibians have served as a valuable model system for addressing a wide range of questions in biology, spanning diverse research fields such as physiology, development and conservation biology. However, the usage of amphibian models is severely limited by the inability to manipulate gene expression with high specificity. The goal of this project is to develop viruses that are able to infect amphibians in order to deliver and manipulate genes. This goal will be achieved through collaboration between scientists in the US, Israel and Austria, bound by their shared interest in amphibian biology. To obtain amphibian-specific viruses, we will use a recently developed approach in which a large library of viruses is generated and injected into animals. From this large library, some viruses may successfully infect cells and these can be sequenced for determination of their genetic code. From these sequenced viruses a new library can be generated again and injected into the tissue. Through this iterative process, amphibian-specific viruses can be created. We will develop these tools in three amphibian species: the anurans Xenopus laevis and Pyxicephalus adspersus, and the urodele, Pleurodeles wattl. Each species exemplifies one or more biological puzzles including control of lifespan, sexual dimorphism, and evolution of novel morphologies. As a test case, we will use the developed viruses to change and measure the activation of genes in the retina of the eye and examine their effect on function. Generating specific viruses that enable manipulation of amphibian genes, will push forward amphibian research across various fields and allow amphibian research to be key in driving new insights.