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Published on: July 16, 2012
Recombinant hepatitis E virus genomes infectious for primates: importance of capping and discovery of a cis-reactive
S U Emerson1, M Zhang, X J Meng
1Molecular Hepatitis and Hepatitis Viruses Sections, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. semerson@niaid.nih.gov
Abstract:
Hepatitis E virus recombinant genomes transcribed in vitro from two cDNA clones differing by two nucleotides were infectious for chimpanzees. However, one cDNA clone encoded a virus that was attenuated for chimpanzees and unable to infect rhesus monkeys. The second cDNA clone encoded a virus that infected both chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys and caused acute hepatitis in both. One mutation differentiating the two clones identified a cis-reactive element that appeared to overlap the 3' end of the capsid gene and part of the 3' noncoding region. Capping of the RNA transcripts was essential for infectivity.
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