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Published on: November 1, 2011
Efficient rescue of recombinant Lassa virus reveals the influence of S segment noncoding regions on virus replication
César G Albariño1, Brian H Bird, Ayan K Chakrabarti
1Viral Special Pathogens Branch, Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, MS G14, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA. bwu4@cdc.gov
Abstract:
Lassa virus (LASV), is a significant cause of severe, often fatal, hemorrhagic fever in humans throughout western Africa, with an estimated 100,000 infections each year. No vaccines are commercially available. We report the development of an efficient reverse genetics system to rescue recombinant LASV and to investigate the contributions of the long 5' and 3' noncoding regions (NCRs) of the S genomic segment to in vitro growth and in vivo virulence. This work demonstrates that deletions of large portions of these NCRs confer an attenuated phenotype and are a first step toward further insights into the high virulence of LASV.
