Viruses, Vol. 10, Pages 700: Tet-Inducible Production of Infectious Zika Virus from the Full-Length cDNA Clones of African- and Asian-Lineage Strains

In this study, we have developed a stable plasmid-based reverse genetic system for robust production of both ZIKV prototype African-lineage MR766 and clinical Asian-lineage FSS13025 strains using a tetracycline (Tet)-controlled gene expression vector. Transcription of the full-length ZIKV RNA is under the control of the Tet-responsive Ptight promoter at the 5′ end and an antigenomic ribozyme of hepatitis delta virus at the 3′ end. The transcription of infectious ZIKV RNA genome was efficiently induced by doxycycline. This novel ZIKV reverse genetics system will be valuable for the study of molecular viral pathogenesis of ZIKV and the development of new vaccines against ZIKV infection.
Source: Viruses - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research