Expression profile of adult Drosophila melanogaster expressing a self-replicating RNA of Sindbis virus

Alphaviruses establish a persistent infection in arthropod vectors, which is essential for effective transmission of the virus to vertebrate hosts. The development of persistence in insects is not well understood, although it is thought to involve the innate immune response. Using a transgenic fly system (SINrep) expressing a self-replicating viral genome, we have previously demonstrated the antiviral response of the Drosophila Imd (Immune Deficiency) and Jak-STAT innate immunity pathways. In the current study, microarray analysis of SINrep flies in comparison to control GFP flies aims to detect genes that are sensitive to Sindbis viral RNA replication. Both SINrep and GFP adult flies were harvested 3 days post eclosion for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We look for genes significantly altered in the presence of viral RNA replication.