title: Complementation studies with the novel "Bungowannah" virus provide new insights in the compatibility of pestivirus proteins.
abstract: In recent years several atypical pestiviruses have been described. Bungowannah virus is the most divergent virus in this group. Therefore, heterologous complementation was used to clarify the phylogenetic relationship and to analyze the exchangeability of genome regions encoding structural proteins. Using a BVDV type 1 backbone, chimeric constructs with substituted envelope proteins E(rns), E1 and E2, were investigated. While all constructs replicated autonomously, infectious high titer chimeric virus could only be observed after exchanging the complete E1-E2 encoding region. The complementation of E1 and E2 alone resulted only in replicons. Complementation of BVDV-E(rns) was only efficient if Bungowannah virus-E(rns) was expressed from a bicistronic construct. Our data provide new insights in the compatibility of pestivirus proteins and demonstrate that heterologous complementation could be useful to characterize new pestiviruses.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Suedufer 10, D-17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: Ilona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Reimann
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wegelt
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Kirkland
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002460:Cell Line; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D010576:Pestivirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016865:Reassortant Viruses; D013552:Swine; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D056189:Viral Tropism; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins