Efficient replication of recombinant Enterovirus B types, carrying different P1 genes in the coxsackievirus B5 replicative backbone

• Recombination is an important feature in theevolution of the Enterovirus genus. Phylogenetic studies ofenteroviruses have revealed that the capsid genomic region(P1) is type specific, while the parts of the genome codingfor the non-structural proteins (P2–P3) are species specific.Hence, the genome may be regarded as consisting of twomodules that evolve independently. In this study, it wasinvestigated whether the non-structural coding part of thegenome in one type could support replication of a virus witha P1 region from another type of the same species. A cas-sette vector (pCas) containing a full-length cDNA copy ofcoxsackievirus B5 (CVB5) was used as a replicative back-bone. The P1 region of pCas was replaced with the corre-sponding part from coxsackievirus B3Nancy(CVB3N),coxsackievirus B6Schmitt(CVB6S), and echovirus 7Wal-lace(E7W), all members of theEnterovirus Bspecies. Thereplication efficiency after transfection with clone-derivedin vitro transcribed RNA was studied and compared withthat of pCas. All the recombinant viruses replicated with similar efficiencies and showed threshold cycle (Ct) values,tissue culture infectivity dose 50 %, and plaque-forming unittiters comparable to viruses generated from the pCas con-struct. In addition to this, a clone without the P1 region wasalso constructed, and Western Blot and immunofluorescencestaining analysis showed that the viral genome could betranslated and replicated despite the lack of the structuralprotein-coding region. To conclude, the replicative back-bone of the CVB5 cassette vector supports replication ofintraspecies constructs with P1 regions derived from othermembers of theEnterovirus Bspecies. In addition to this,the replicative backbone can be both translated and repli-cated without the presence of a P1 region.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biokemi och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Virologi

Virology

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