Abstract 3041 Shifting interactions of alphavirus spike proteins with cellular receptors

Alphaviruses are enveloped, positive-sense RNA viruses and include several agents that can cause lethal encephalitis when transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitos. The cellular receptors these viruses attach to when infecting cells in mosquitos and humans, which are separated by hundreds of millions of years in evolutionary history, were in many cases unknown up until recently. I will describe how we used a CRISPR-Cas9 screen to identify the very low-density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR), apolipoprotein E receptor 2 (ApoER2), and protocadherin 10 (PCHD10) as cellular receptors for mosquito-borne alphaviruses that cause encephalitis in humans and horses.