Genetically Recoding Respiratory Syncytial Virus to Visualize Nucleoprotein Dynamics and Virion Assembly.

ABSTRACT: RNA viruses possess small genomes encoding a limited repertoire of essential and often multifunctional proteins. Although genetically tagging viral proteins provides a powerful tool for dissecting mechanisms of viral replication and infection, it remains a challenge. Here, we leverage genetic code expansion to develop a recoded strain of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in which the multifunctional nucleoprotein is site-specifically modified with a noncanonical amino acid. The resulting virus replicates exclusively in cells capable of amber stop codon suppression and is amenable to labeling with tetrazine-modified fluorophores, achieving high signal to background. Virus with labeled nucleoprotein remains functional, retaining ∼70% infectivity relative to unlabeled controls. We leverage th

SUBMITTER: Mitrovich MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11731299 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature