title: Bioengineering of Tobacco Mosaic Virus to Create a Non-Infectious Positive Control for Ebola Diagnostic Assays.
abstract: The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest to date. There is no cure or treatment for this deadly disease; therefore there is an urgent need to develop new diagnostics to accurately detect Ebola. Current RT-PCR assays lack sensitive and reliable positive controls. To address this critical need, we devised a bio-inspired positive control for use in RT-PCR diagnostics: we encapsulated scrambled Ebola RNA sequences inside of tobacco mosaic virus to create a biomimicry that is non-infectious, but stable, and could therefore serve as a positive control in Ebola diagnostic assays. Here, we report the bioengineering and validation of this probe.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.|Cleveland Center for Membrane and Structural Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Neetu M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Gulati
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.|Cleveland Center for Membrane and Structural Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Phoebe L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.|Department of Genetics, Division of General Medical Sciences-Oncology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.|Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Ruth A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Keri
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.|Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.|Department of Radiology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.|Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.|Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Steinmetz
mesh_terms: D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000592:standards*; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods; D016679:Genome, Viral; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D010957:Plasmids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000235:genetics; D016865:Reassortant Viruses / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D012015:Reference Standards; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000592:standards*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000821:virology; D014027:Tobacco Mosaic Virus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D014771:Virion / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D012367:RNA, Viral