Journal article

Differences in Processing Determinants of Nonstructural Polyprotein and in the Sequence of Nonstructural Protein 3 Affect Neurovirulence of Semliki Forest Virus

Sirle Saul, Mhairi Ferguson, Colette Cordonin, Rennos Fragkoudis, Margit Ool, Nele Tamberg, Karen Sherwood, John K Fazakerley, Andres Merits

JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY | AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY | Published : 2015

Abstract

UNLABELLED: The A7(74) strain of Semliki Forest virus (SFV; genus Alphavirus) is avirulent in adult mice, while the L10 strain is virulent in mice of all ages. It has been previously demonstrated that this phenotypic difference is associated with nonstructural protein 3 (nsP3). Consensus clones of L10 (designated SFV6) and A7(74) (designated A774wt) were used to construct a panel of recombinant viruses. The insertion of nsP3 from A774wt into the SFV6 backbone had a minor effect on the virulence of the resulting recombinant virus. Conversely, insertion of nsP3 from SFV6 into the A774wt backbone or replacement of A774wt nsP3 with two copies of nsP3 from SFV6 resulted in virulent viruses. Unexp..

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Grants

Awarded by Estonian Ministry of Education and Research


Awarded by Estonian Science Foundation


Awarded by European Union through the European Regional Development Fund


Awarded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Institute Strategic Project


Awarded by NERC


Awarded by MRC


Awarded by BBSRC


Awarded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council


Awarded by Medical Research Council


Awarded by Natural Environment Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by institutional research funding (IUT20-27) of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, the Estonian Science Foundation (grant 9400), the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (grant agreement 10.1-9/1008) and via the Center of Excellence in Chemical Biology, and by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Institute Strategic Project grants to The Roslin Institute and The Pirbright Institute (BBB/E/I/00001735). Sequencing was carried out by Edinburgh Genomics, The University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh Genomics is partly supported through core grants from NERC (R8/H10/56), MRC (MR/K001744/1), and BBSRC (BB/J004243/1).