title: Generation of infectious virus particles from inducible transgenic genomes.
abstract: Arboviruses like dengue virus, yellow fever virus, and West Nile virus are enveloped particles spread by mosquitoes, infecting millions of humans per year, with neither effective vaccines, nor specific antiviral therapies [1,2]. Previous studies of infection and virus replication utilize either purified virus particles or deficient genomes that do not complete the viral life cycle [1,2]. Here we describe transgenic Drosophila strains expressing trans-complementing genomes (referred to as 'replicons') from the arbovirus Sindbis [2]. We use this binary system to produce, for the first time in any metazoan, infectious virus particles through self-assembly from transgenes. Such cell-type specific particle 'launching' could serve as an attractive alternative for the development of virus-based tools and the study of virus biology in specific tissues.
authors: Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors: Mathias F
authors: MF
authors: Wernet
authors: Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors: Martha
authors: M
authors: Klovstad
authors: Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: trc@stanford.edu.
authors: Thomas R
authors: TR
authors: Clandinin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D004330:Drosophila / Q000821:virology*; D016678:Genome; D012093:Replicon / Q000235:genetics; D012845:Sindbis Virus / Q000235:genetics*; D014771:Virion / Q000235:genetics*; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics*