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Published on: November 24, 2010
Specific nucleotide changes in the subgenomic promoter region influence infectivity of the sindbis virus
1State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Transcription of the subgenomic mRNA of Sindbis virus (SINV) is initiated at a subgenomic promoter (SP). Alignment of SINV sequences identified a 68-nucleotide conserved domain spanning -19 to +49 relative to the subgenomic mRNA start site. Nucleotide T or C is present at -18 or +49 in all known SINVs while a Sindbis-like virus XJ-160 has an A or T at a corresponding position. Our results indicate that deletion or substitution of the T at +49 decreased the activity of SP, while substituting T for A at -18 did not decrease the activity of SP or genetic stability of recombinant SINV.

