Garcia-Blanco, Mariano A.

Adjunct Professor

Email

Bio Research Publications

Mariano A. Garcia-Blanco was born in Puerto Rico, went to Harvard College for his undergraduate education, and received his MD, and PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. He completed a fellowship with Dr. Phillip Sharp at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his appointment at Duke-NUS, Dr. Garcia-Blanco was a faculty member at Duke University (1990-2014), where he served as the inaugural Charles D. Watts Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Professor of Medicine, and Director of the Center for RNA Biology. Since 2014 he is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Mildred Hajek Vacek and John Roman Vacek Distinguished Chair in Honor of President Truman G. Blocker, Jr. at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Dr. Garcia-Blanco has made seminal discoveries to RNA biology and virology.  His studies on mRNA splicing have shed light on the mechanisms of splicing regulation, disease-causing splicing dis-regulation and a new type of RNA therapy.  Recently, he has focused his expertise on pathogenic RNA viruses and on RNA-centric mechanisms of immunity.  The RNA viruses he studies cause dengue, yellow fever and Zika, which threaten global public health.  His studies in immunity have centered on the role of RNA binding proteins on innate immunity, inflammation and autoimmunity.  He has published over 170 articles, reviews and chapters, and has been continuously funded by NIH (USA) since 1991. 

Dr. Garcia-Blanco was a Sackler Foundation Scholar, was elected to the Association of American Physicians (2011), fellow of the AAAS (2011), and fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (2013). He has served in editorial boards and NIH panels, including the National Advisory Council for NIGMS, and the Council of Scientific Advisers of the International Centre Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

Flaviviruses are a major health problem in the tropics and represent an emerging danger to global health. This threat was loudly announced by the North American West Nile virus epidemic and the recent Zika virus pandemic.  Comparatively little is known about the molecular biology of these viruses, and the Garcia-Blanco laboratory is identifying host factors, both insect and human, that impact on the infection with pathogenic flaviviruses using en masse approaches.  Some of these factors, dependency factors, are required for efficient viral replication, while others, restriction factors, are components limit infectivity and are part of the host innate defense against viral pathogens. Given that flaviviruses live in an RNA world, never using DNA as genetic material, many of the newly identified host factors are RNA binding proteins.

 

Anwar, A., Leong, K.M., Ng, M.L., Chu, J.H. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2009) The polypyrimidine tract binding protein is required for efficient dengue virus propagation and associates with the viral replication machinery. J Biol Chem., 284(25):17021-9. PMCID: PMC2719340

Sessions, O.M., Barrows, N.J., Souza-Neto, J.A., Robinson, T.J., Hershey, C.L., Rodgers, M.A., Ramirez, J.L., Dimopoulos, G., Yang, P.L., Pearson, J.L. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2009) Discovery of Insect and Human Dengue Virus Host Factors. Nature, 458, 1047-1050. PMCID: PMC3462662

Barrows, N.J., Sommer, C.L., Garcia-Blanco, M.A. and Pearson J.L. (2010) Factors affecting reproducibility between genome-scale siRNA-based screens. J Biomol Screen. Aug;15(7):735-47. Epub 2010 Jul 12. PMCID: PMC3149892

Anwar, A., Hosoya, T., Leong, K.M., Onogi, H., Okuno, Y., Hiramatsu, T., Koyama, H., Suzuki, M., Hagiwara, M. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2011) The Kinase Inhibitor SFV785 Dislocates Dengue Virus Envelope Protein from the Replication Complex and Blocks Virus Assembly. PLoS ONE. 2011;6(8):e23246. Epub 2011 Aug 17. PMCID: PMC3157368

Ward, A.M., Bidet, K.,Yinglin, A., Ler, S.G., Hogue, K., Blackstock, W., Gunaratne, J. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2011) Quantitative mass spectrometry of DENV-2 RNA-interacting proteins reveals that the DEAD-box RNA helicase DDX6 binds the DB1 and DB2 3’ UTR structures. RNA Biol. 2011 Nov 1;8(6). PMCID: PMC3256426

Le Sommer, C., Barrows, N.J, Bradrick, S.S., Pearson, J.L. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2012) G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 promotes flaviviridae entry and replication. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2012 Sep;6(9):e1820. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0001820. Epub 2012 Sep 13. PMID: 23029581 PMCID: PMC3441407

Krishnan, M.N. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2014) Targeting host factors to treat West Nile and dengue viral infections. Viruses, 6(2):683-708. doi: 10.3390/v6020683. PMID 24517970

Barrows, N., Jamison, S.F., Bradrick, S.S., Le Sommer, C., Kim, S.-Y., Pearson, J. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2014) Functional genomics approach for the identification of human host factors supporting dengue viral propagation. Methods Mol Biol. 1138:285-99. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-0348-1_18. PMID: 24696344

Ward, A.M., Gunaratne, J. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2014) Identification of Dengue RNA Binding Proteins using RNA Chromatography and Quantitative Mass Spectrometry. Methods Mol Biol. 1138:253-70. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-0348-1_16. PMID: 24696342

Bogerd, H.P., Skalsky, R.L., Kennedy, E.M., Furuse, Y., Whisnant, A.W., Flores, O., Schultz, K.L., Putnam, N., Barrows, N.J., Sherry, B., Scholle, F., Garcia-Blanco, M.A., Griffin, D.E. and Cullen, B.R. (2014) J. Virol.  Replication of many human viruses is refractory to inhibition by endogenous cellular microRNAs May 7. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 24807715

Blake, L.E. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2014) Human genetic variation and yellow fever mortality during 19th century US epidemics. mBio, Jun 3;5(3):e01253-14. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01253-14. PMID: 24895309

Bidet, K., Dadlani, D. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2014) G3BP1, G3BP2 and CAPRIN1 are required for translation of interferon stimulated mRNAs and are targeted by a dengue virus non-coding RNA. PLOS Pathogens, Jul 3;10(7):e1004242. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004242. eCollection 2014 Jul. PMID: 24992036

Bidet, K. and Garcia-Blanco, M.A. (2014) Flaviviral RNAs: weapons and targets in the war between virus and host.  Biochem J. 2014 Sep 1;462(2):215-30. doi: 10.1042/BJ20140456.  PMID:2510202

Manokaran G., Finol E., Wang C., Gunaratne J., Bahl J., Ong E.Z., Tan H.C., Sessions O.M., Ward A.M., Gubler D.J., Harris E., Garcia-Blanco M.A., and Ooi E.E. (2015) Dengue subgenomic RNA binds TRIM25 to inhibit interferon expression for epidemiological fitness. Science 350 (6257):217-21. doi: 10.1126/science.aab3369. Epub 2015 Jul 2.PMID: 26138103

Phillips S.L., Garcia-Blanco M.A. and Bradrick S.S. (2015) Antisense-mediated affinity purification of dengue virus ribonucleoprotein complexes from infected cells. Methods. pii: S1046-2023(15)30047-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2015.08.008. [Epub ahead of print]  PMID: 26276314

Bradrick, S.S. and Garcia-Blanco M.A. (2015) RNA based methods in virology. Methods. 2015 Dec;91:1-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2015.11.014. PMID: 26678321

Phillips S.L., Bradrick, S.S. and Garcia-Blanco M.A. (2016) Identification of proteins bound to dengue viral RNA in vivo reveals new host proteins important for virus replication.  mBio. 2016 Jan 5;7(1). pii: e01865-15. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01865-15.  PMID: 26733069

Weaver S.C., Costa F., Garcia-Blanco M.A., Ko A.I., Ribeiro G.S., Saade G., Shi P.Y., Vasilakis N. (2016) Zika virus: History, emergence, biology, and prospects for control. Antiviral Res. 2016 Jun;130:69-80. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2016.03.010. Epub 2016 Mar 18. Review.  PMID 26996139

Barrows N.J., Campos R.K., Powell S.T., Prasanth K.R., Schott-Lerner G., Soto-Acosta R., Galarza-Muñoz G., McGrath E.L., Urrabaz-Garza R., Gao J., Wu P., Menon R., Saade G., Fernandez-Salas I., Rossi S.L., Vasilakis N., Routh A., Bradrick S.S., Garcia-Blanco M.A. (2016) A Screen of FDA-Approved Drugs for Inhibitors of Zika Virus Infection. Cell Host Microbe. 2016 Aug 10;20(2):259-70. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2016.07.004. Epub 2016 Jul 28. PMID 27476412

Shan C, Xie X, Barrett AD, Garcia-Blanco MA, Tesh RB, Vasconcelos PF, Vasilakis N, Weaver SC, Shi PY. (2016) Zika Virus: Diagnosis, Therapeutics, and Vaccine. ACS Infect Dis. 2016 Mar 11;2(3):170-2. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.6b00030. PMID 27623030

Garcia-Blanco MA, Vasudevan SG, Bradrick SS, Nicchitta C. (2016) Flavivirus RNA transactions from viral entry to genome replication. Antiviral Res. 2016 Oct;134:244-249. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2016.09.010. Review. PMID 27666184

Ward AM, Calvert ME, Read LR, Kang S, Levitt BE, Dimopoulos G, Bradrick SS, Gunaratne J, Garcia-Blanco MA. (2016) The Golgi associated ERI3 is a Flavivirus host factor. Sci Rep. 2016 Sep 29;6:34379. doi: 10.1038/srep34379. PMID 27682269

Gokhale NS, McIntyre AB, McFadden MJ, Roder AE, Kennedy EM, Gandara JA, Hopcraft SE, Quicke KM, Vazquez C, Willer J, Ilkayeva OR, Law BA, Holley CL, Garcia-Blanco MA, Evans MJ, Suthar MS, Bradrick SS, Mason CE, Horner SM. (2016) N6-Methyladenosine in Flaviviridae Viral RNA Genomes Regulates Infection. Cell Host Microbe. 2016 Nov 9;20(5):654-665. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2016.09.015. PMID: 27773535

Campos RK, Wong B, Xie X, Lu YF, Shi PY, Pompon J, Garcia-Blanco MA, Bradrick SS. (2017) RPLP1 and RPLP2 are essential flavivirus host factors that promote early viral protein accumulation.  J Virol. 2017 Jan 31;91(4). pii: e01706-16. doi: 10.1128/JVI.01706-16. PMID 27974556

Ng, WC, Soto-Acosta R, Bradrick SS, Garcia-Blanco MA, Ooi EE (2017) The 5' and 3' Untranslated Regions of the Flaviviral Genome. Viruses. 2017 Jun 6;9(6). pii: E137. doi: 10.3390/v9060137. PMID: 28587300

Guo F, Norton AR, Fuchs EL, Hirth JM, Garcia-Blanco MA, Berenson AB (2017) Provider-patient communication about Zika during prenatal visits. Prev Med Rep. 2017 May 18;7:26-29. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2017.05.003. eCollection 2017 Sep. PMID: 28593119

Aliota MT, Bassit L, Bradrick SS, Cox B, Garcia-Blanco MA, Gavegnano C, Friedrich TC, Golos TG, Griffin DE, Haddow AD, Kallas EG, Kitron U, Lecuit M, Magnani DM, Marrs C, Mercer N, McSweegan E, Ng LFP, O'Connor DH, Osorio JE, Ribeiro GS, Ricciardi M, Rossi SL, Saade G, Schinazi RF, Schott-Lerner GO, Shan C, Shi PY, Watkins DI, Vasilakis N, Weaver SC. (2017) Zika in the Americas, year 2: What have we learned? What gaps remain? A report from the Global Virus Network. Antiviral Res. 144:223-246. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2017.06.001. Epub 2017 Jun 6. PMID: 28595824

Campos RK, Garcia-Blanco MA, Bradrick SS (2017) Roles of Pro-viral Host Factors in Mosquito-Borne Flavivirus Infections. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. doi: 10.1007/82_2017_26. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28688087

Pompon J, Manuel M, Ng GK, Wong B, Shan C, Manokaran G, Soto-Acosta R, Bradrick SS, Ooi EE, Missé D, Shi PY, Garcia-Blanco MA (2017) Dengue subgenomic flaviviral RNA disrupts immunity in mosquito salivary glands to increase virus transmission. PLoS Pathog. 13(7):e1006535. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006535  PMID: 28753642

Reid, D, Campos, RK, Child, JR, Zheng, T, Chan, KWK, Bradrick, SS, Vasudevan, SG, Garcia-Blanco, MA, and Nicchitta, CV (2018) Dengue virus selectively annexes endoplasmic reticulum-associated translation machinery as a strategy for co-opting host cell protein synthesis. J. Virology. JVI.01766-17. doi: 10.1128/JVI.01766-17. PMID:29321322

Barrows NJ, Campos RK, Liao KC, Prasanth KR, Soto-Acosta R, Yeh SC, Schott-Lerner G, Pompon J, Sessions OM, Bradrick SS, Garcia-Blanco MA (2018) Chem Rev. 2018 Apr 25;118(8):4448-4482. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00719. Epub 2018 Apr 13. PMID 29652486 Free PMC Article

Liao KC, Chuo V, Ng WC, Neo SP, Pompon J, Gunaratne J, Ooi EE, Garcia-Blanco MA. (2018) RNA. Identification and characterization of host proteins bound to dengue virus 3' UTR reveal an antiviral role for quaking proteins. RNA Jun;24(6):803-814. doi: 10.1261/rna.064006.117. Epub 2018 Mar 23. PMID:29572260 Free Article

Bidet, K and Garcia-Blanco, MA (2018) Flaviviral RNA structures and their roles in replication and immunity. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 1062:45-62. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-8727-1_4. PMID: 29845524

Fang J, Pietzsch C, Ramanathan P, Santos RI, Ilinykh PA, Garcia-Blanco MA, Bukreyev A, Bradrick SS. (2018) Staufen1 Interacts with Multiple Components of the Ebola Virus Ribonucleoprotein and Enhances Viral RNA Synthesis. mBio 9(5). pii: e01771-18. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01771-18. PMID: 30301857

Soto-Acosta R, Xie X, Shan C, Baker CK, Shi PY, Rossi SL, Garcia-Blanco MA, Bradrick S. (2018) Fragile X mental retardation protein is a Zika virus restriction factor that is antagonized by subgenomic flaviviral RNA. eLife Dec 4;7. pii: e39023. doi: 10.7554/eLife.39023 PMID:30511641 Free PMC Article