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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Vaccinia Virus Infection & Temporal Analysis of Virus Gene Expression: Part 1
Published on: April 8, 2009
Vaccinia virus gene F3L encodes an intracellular protein that affects the innate immune response
Graham C Froggatt1, Geoffrey L Smith1, Philippa M Beard1
1Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, St Mary's Campus, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK.
Abstract:
The Vaccinia virus BTB/kelch protein F3 has been characterized and its effects on virus replication in vitro and virus virulence in vivo have been determined. The loss of the F3L gene had no effect on virus growth, plaque phenotype or cytopathic effect in cell culture under the conditions tested. However, the virulence of a virus lacking F3L in an intradermal model was reduced compared with controls, and this was demonstrated by a significantly smaller lesion and alterations to the innate immune response to infection. The predicted molecular mass of the F3 protein is 56 kDa; however, immunoblotting of infected cell lysates using an antibody directed against recombinant F3 revealed two proteins of estimated sizes 37 and 25 kDa.
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