title: Recombinant hepatitis E virus genomes infectious for primates: importance of capping and discovery of a cis-reactive element.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: 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
authors.forename: S U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Emerson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: X J
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: St  Claire
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Govindarajan
authors.forename: Y K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Purcell
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012315:RNA Caps; D012333:RNA, Messenger