title: Recovery of a persistent Canine distemper virus expressing the enhanced green fluorescent protein from cloned cDNA.
abstract: Wild-type A75/17-Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a highly virulent strain, which induces a persistent infection in the central nervous system (CNS) with demyelinating disease. Wild-type A75/17-CDV, which is unable to replicate in cell lines to detectable levels, was adapted to grow in Vero cells and was designated A75/17-V. Sequence comparison between the two genomes revealed seven nucleotide differences located in the phosphoprotein (P), the matrix (M) and the large (L) genes. The P gene is polycistronic and encodes two auxiliary proteins, V and C, besides the P protein. The mutations resulted in amino acid changes in the P and V, but not in the C protein, as well as in the M and L proteins. Here, a rescue system was developed for the A75/17-V strain, which was shown to be attenuated in vivo, but retains a persistent infection phenotype in Vero cells. In order to track the recombinant virus, an additional transcription unit coding for the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was inserted at the 3' proximal position in the A75/17-V cDNA clone. Reverse genetics technology will allow us to characterize the genetic determinants of A75/17-V CDV persistent infection in cell culture.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biotechnologie, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Plattet
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zweifel
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wiederkehr
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Belloy
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cherpillod
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zurbriggen
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wittek
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004217:Distemper Virus, Canine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D004285:Dogs; D023061:Gene Order; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005814:Genes, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D023281:Genomics; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D014709:Vero Cells; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins