RUVKUN LAB
Major Research Interests: microRNA and RNA interference mechanisms, bacterial and animal genetic analysis of microbiome interactions, neuroendocrine control of detoxification, immunity, and aging, life on other planets Small RNA research in the Ruvkun lab Small RNA pathways regulate eukaryotic defense against invading genetic elements such as viruses. RNA interference in the animal C. elegans is highly ramified and represents the RNAi ancestral state common to plants and fungi, with particular Argonaute and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase proteins specialized for silencing of transposons and other integrated viruses or new invading viruses. The new genes we have discovered that strongly enhance RNAi reveal mechanisms by which siRNA production is naturally broadened to defend against novel viruses. Our saturation genetic analysis of antiviral pathways has revealed surprising new possibilities for how the genomic record of past viral infections can anticipate the constant variation in n