title: Improved genetic stability of recombinant yellow fever 17D virus expressing a lentiviral Gag gene fragment.
abstract: We have previously designed a method to construct viable recombinant Yellow Fever (YF) 17D viruses expressing heterologous polypeptides including part of the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) Gag protein. However, the expressed region, encompassing amino acid residues from 45 to 269, was genetically unstable. In this study, we improved the genetic stability of this recombinant YF 17D virus by introducing mutations in the IRES element localized at the 5' end of the SIV gag gene. The new stable recombinant virus elicited adaptive immune responses similar to those induced by the original recombinant virus. It is, therefore, possible to increase recombinant stability by removing functional motifs from the insert that may have deleterious effects on recombinant YF viral fitness.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Flavivírus, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Department of Pathology, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, United States of America.
authors.forename: Marlon G Veloso
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: de Santana
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Flavivírus, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Patrícia C C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Neves
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Flavivírus, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Juliana Ribeiro
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Flavivírus, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Noemia S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Flavivírus, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandre A C
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, United States of America.
authors.forename: David I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Tecnologia em Imunobiológicos, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Galler
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Flavivírus, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Electronic address: mbonaldo@ioc.fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: Myrna C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Bonaldo
mesh_terms: D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D015302:Simian Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D015005:Yellow fever virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D016207:Cytokines; D015683:Gene Products, gag
keywords: Genetic stability; Recombinant virus; SIV Gag; SIV gag IRES; Viral vector; Yellow Fever 17D virus