title: Coronavirus reverse genetic systems: infectious clones and replicons.
abstract: Coronaviruses (CoVs) infect humans and many animal species, and are associated with respiratory, enteric, hepatic, and central nervous system diseases. The large size of the CoV genome and the instability of some CoV replicase gene sequences during its propagation in bacteria, represent serious obstacles for the development of reverse genetic systems similar to those used for smaller positive sense RNA viruses. To overcome these limitations, several alternatives to more conventional plasmid-based approaches have been established in the last 13 years. In this report, we briefly review and discuss the different reverse genetic systems developed for CoVs, paying special attention to the severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV (SARS-CoV).
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Campus Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/ Darwin 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Almazán
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Campus Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/ Darwin 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sola
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Campus Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/ Darwin 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zuñiga
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Campus Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/ Darwin 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marquez-Jurado
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Campus Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/ Darwin 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Morales
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Campus Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/ Darwin 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Becares
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Campus Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/ Darwin 3, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: L.Enjuanes@cnb.csic.es.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Enjuanes
mesh_terms: D002999:Clone Cells; D017934:Coronavirus / Q000235:genetics*; D012093:Replicon; D059386:Reverse Genetics / Q000379:methods*; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Coronavirus; Infectious clones; Replicons; Reverse genetics