A GFP expressing influenza A virus to report in vivo tropism and protection by a matrix protein 2 ectodomain-specific monoclonal antibody.

ABSTRACT: The severity of influenza-related illness is mediated by many factors, including in vivo cell tropism, timing and magnitude of the immune response, and presence of pre-existing immunity. A direct way to study cell tropism and virus spread in vivo is with an influenza virus expressing a reporter gene. However, reporter gene-expressing influenza viruses are often attenuated in vivo and may be genetically unstable. Here, we describe the generation of an influenza A virus expressing GFP from a tri-cistronic NS segment. To reduce the size of this engineered gene segment, we used a truncated NS1 protein of 73 amino acids combined with a heterologous dimerization domain to increase protein stability. GFP and nuclear export protein coding information were fused in frame with the truncated NS1 open

SUBMITTER: De Baets S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4376807 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature