Construction of recombinant human cytomegalovirus

The use of reverse genetics to generate recombinant viruses allows the researcher to investigate the exact functional significance of particular viral genes during the virus life cycle, by means of their deletion or modification in the viral genome. These studies can extend to the introduction of viral or foreign genetic material into ectopic sites in the viral genome, to investigate viral cis-control sequences or to phenotypically modify or tag the recombinant virus. Genetically modified viruses may also have applications in biotechnology and gene therapy. Such studies are well advanced for herpes simplex virus (HSV), a relative of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), but have been relatively limited for HCMV itself.