Carol D. Blair
Professor, Interim Department Head

Phone: 491-8243
Fax: 491-1815
Email: Carol.Blair@colostate.edu
Office: B103 Microbiology Building, 110E Pathology
Lab: Arthropod-borne and Infectious Disease Laboratory, Foothills Campus

 

Degrees

• B.A. University of Utah, Microbiology
• Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Molecular Biology

Research Interests

Molecular Virology

• Our research interests at the Arthropod-borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory are in the molecular biology of interactions between arthropod-borne viruses and their mosquito hosts. We are particularly interested in the molecular genetic mechanisms that determine the ability of arboviruses to establish persistent, noncytocidal, life-long infections in mosquitoes although they can cause serious disease in vertebrate hosts. We are exploring these relationships in several different systems.
• La Crosse (LAC) virus, a Bunyavirus, is efficiently transovarially transmitted from female Aedes (Ochlerotatus) triseriatus mosquitoes to their offspring. In addition, LAC virus replication has the unique characteristic of "cap-scavenging" from host mRNA to prime viral transcription. We believe that co-regulation of host and viral transcription during vulnerable stages of mosquito development is responsible for persistent virus infections and vertical transmission, and are testing this hypothesis experimentally by examining viral counterdefenses to mosquito protective mechanisms such as RNA interference (RNAi) and apoptosis.
• In contrast, West Nile virus (WNV), a Flavivirus, appears to be vertically transmitted very inefficiently in mosquitoes. We are examining the ability of female mosquitoes of various species to pass WNV to their offspring. These studies are being conducted in both wild-trapped and laboratory colonies of mosquitoes with several different strains of WNV. This work should help us understand how WNV is maintained between transmission seasons in temperate climates.
• Dengue (DEN) viruses, serotypes 1-4, are Flaviviruses that annually cause millions of human infections throughout the range of their principal vector, Aedes aegypti. We have demonstrated that we can block infection and transmission of DEN viruses in Ae. aegypti by expression in mosquito cells of double stranded RNA derived from the DEN genome. We believe this is the first demonstration of RNAi in mosquitoes, and are investigating the mechanism as a strategy for control of DEN transmission to humans.

Selected Publications

Pub Med for Blair CD.

• Adelman, Z.N., C. D. Blair, J. O. Carlson, B. J. Beaty, and K. E. Olson. 2001. Sindbis virus-induced silencing of dengue viruses in mosquitoes. Insect Molecular Biology 10, 265-273.
• Adelman, Zach N., Irma Sanchez-Vargas, Emily A. Travanty, Jon O. Carlson, Barry J. Beaty, Carol D. Blair, and Ken E. Olson. 2002. RNA silencing of dengue 2 virus replication in transformed C6/36 mosquito cells transcribing an inverted repeat RNA derived from the virus genome. J. Virol. 76, 12925-33.
• Blitvich, B.J., C.D. Blair, B.J. Kempf, M.T. Hughes, W.C. Black, R.S. Mackie, C.T. Meredith, B.J. Beaty, A. Rayms-Keller. 2002. Developmental- and tissue-specific expression of an inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1 homologue from Aedes triseriatus mosquitoes. Insect Molecular Biology, 11, 431-442.
• Sanchez-Vargas, Irma, Emily A. Travanty, Kimberly M. Keene, Alexander W.E. Franz, Barry J. Beaty, Carol D. Blair, and Ken E. Olson. 2003. RNA interference, arthropod-borne viruses, and mosquitoes. Virus Research, in press.