Deep spatial profiling of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus reveals increased genetic diversity amidst neuroinflammation and cell death during brain infection.

ABSTRACT: Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) causes a febrile illness that can progress to neurological disease with the possibility of death in human cases. The evaluation and optimization of therapeutics that target brain infections demands knowledge of the host's response to VEEV, the dynamics of infection, and the potential for within-host evolution of the virus. We hypothesized that selective pressures during infection of the brain may differ temporally and spatially and so we investigated the dynamics of the host response, viral transcript levels, and genetic variation of VEEV TC-83 in eight areas of the brain in mice over 7 days post-infection (dpi). Viral replication increased throughout the brain until 5-6 dpi and decreased thereafter with neurons as the main site of viral replicat

SUBMITTER: Williams EP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10506382 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature