title: The host-range tdCE phenotype of Chandipura virus is determined by mutations in the polymerase gene.
abstract: The emerging arbovirus Chandipura virus (CV) has been implicated in epidemics of acute encephalitis in India with high mortality rates. The isolation of temperature-dependent host-range (tdCE) mutants, which are impaired in growth at 39 °C in chick embryo (CE) cells but not in monkey cells, highlights a dependence on undetermined host factors. We have characterized three tdCE mutants, each containing one or more coding mutations in the RNA polymerase gene and two containing additional mutations in the attachment protein gene. Using reverse genetics, we showed that a single amino acid change in the virus polymerase of each mutant was responsible for the host-range specificity. In CE cells at the non-permissive temperature, the discrete cytoplasmic replication complexes seen in mammalian cells or at the permissive temperature in CE cells were absent with the tdCE mutants, consistent with the tdCE lesions causing disruption of the replication complexes in a host-dependent manner.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Emily L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Stock
authors.affiliation: Public Health England, Porton Down, Salisbury SP4 0JG, UK.|School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Anthony C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Marriott
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Easton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D058507:Host Specificity; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D010641:Phenotype; D018353:Rhabdoviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D018116:Vesiculovirus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases