[Assembly of JC virus pseudovirus particles by recombinant DNA in COS7 cells]

JS virus lacks an appropriate cell line to support virus replication. The establishment of a JC pseudovirus assembly system would play an alternative role for a virus culture system. COS7 cells and a transfer vector, pcDL-SR alpha 296 were used to express JC viral structural genes. VP231-SR alpha, which encodes VP2/VP3 and VP1, but lacks 137bp of the 5'-terminus of agnogene, showed both efficient nuclear migration and quantitative expression of the major capsid protein VP1. JC pseudovirus assembly was observed in the nucleus of VP231-SR alpha transfected cells. In this study, evidence for JC pseudovirus assembly is presented. The further utilization of this system, which includes a study for the viral morphogenesis and serological diagnosis, are discussed.