The NSm proteins of Rift Valley fever virus are dispensable for maturation, replication and infection.
Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus belongs to the Bunyaviridae family of segmented negative-strand RNA viruses and causes mosquito-borne disease in sub-Saharan Africa. We report the development of a T7 RNA polymerase-driven plasmid-based genetic system for the virulent Egyptian isolate, ZH501. We have used this system to rescue a virus that has a 387 nucleotide deletion on the genomic M segment that eliminates the coding region for two non-structural proteins known as NSm. This virus, DeltaNSm rZH501, is indistinguishable from the parental ZH501 strain with respect to expression of structural proteins and growth in cultured mammalian cells.
Gerrard
Sonja R
SR
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 109 S. Observatory, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. gerrard@umich.edu
Bird
Brian H
BH
Albariño
Cesar G
CG
Nichol
Stuart T
ST
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D017353:Gene Deletion; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D012296:Rift Valley fever virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D014709:Vero Cells; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D019065:Virus Assembly / Q000502:physiology; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology*
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D014764:Viral Proteins