Recombinant hepatitis E virus genomes infectious for primates: importance of capping and discovery of a cis-reactive element.
Hepatitis E virus recombinant genomes transcribed in vitro from two cDNA clones differing by two nucleotides were infectious for chimpanzees. However, one cDNA clone encoded a virus that was attenuated for chimpanzees and unable to infect rhesus monkeys. The second cDNA clone encoded a virus that infected both chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys and caused acute hepatitis in both. One mutation differentiating the two clones identified a cis-reactive element that appeared to overlap the 3' end of the capsid gene and part of the 3' noncoding region. Capping of the RNA transcripts was essential for infectivity.
Emerson
S U
SU
Molecular Hepatitis and Hepatitis Viruses Sections, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. semerson@niaid.nih.gov
Zhang
M
M
Meng
X J
XJ
Nguyen
H
H
St  Claire
M
M
Govindarajan
S
S
Huang
Y K
YK
Purcell
R H
RH
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006524:Hepatitis, Viral, Animal / Q000821:virology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D012315:RNA Caps; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
D004279:DNA, Viral; D012315:RNA Caps; D012333:RNA, Messenger