title: Each of the eight simian hemorrhagic fever virus minor structural proteins is functionally important.
abstract: The simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) genome differs from those of other members of the family Arterivirus in encoding two adjacent sets of four minor structural protein open reading frames (ORFs). A stable, full-length, infectious SHFV-LVR cDNA clone was constructed. Virus produced from this clone had replication characteristics similar to those of the parental virus. A subgenomic mRNA was identified for the SHFV ORF previously identified as 2b. As an initial means of analyzing the functional relevance of each of the SHFV minor structural proteins, a set of mutant infectious clones was generated, each with the start codon of one minor structural protein ORF mutated. Different phenotypes were observed for each ortholog of the pairs of minor glycoproteins and all of the eight minor structural proteins were required for the production of infectious extracellular virus indicating that the duplicated sets of SHFV minor structural proteins are not functionally redundant.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, United States.
authors.forename: Heather A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Vatter
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, United States.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Di
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
authors.forename: Eric F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Donaldson
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States.
authors.forename: Ralph S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Baric
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, United States. Electronic address: mbrinton@gsu.edu.
authors.forename: Margo A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Brinton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018018:Arterivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D018387:Codon, Initiator / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D018387:Codon, Initiator; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins
keywords: Infectious clone; Minor structural proteins; Simian hemorrhagic fever virus; Subgenomic mRNAs