[Construction of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus replicons and its replication in RK-13 cells]

To provide an efficient and safe technology platform for studying the replication and pathogenesis mechanisms of RHDV, the interaction between the RHDV and its host cells, a replicon system of RHDV, was constructed based on the infectious cDNA clone of RHDV, in which VP60 gene encoding the capsid protein was deleted, but all the necessary protease coding regions and non-coding regions were retained. Results from RT-PCR, IFA and qRT-PCR confirmed that the replicon RNA could efficiently replicate in RK-13 cells. Besides, the results also suggested that the capsid protein which is the structural protein of RHDV is necessary for maintaining the viral infectivity.