A Reverse Genetics System for Zika Virus Based on a Simple Molecular Cloning Strategy.

ABSTRACT: The Zika virus (ZIKV) has recently attracted major research interest as infection was unexpectedly associated with neurological manifestations in developing foetuses and with Guillain-Barré syndrome in infected adults. Understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms requires reverse genetic systems, which allow manipulation of infectious cDNA clones at will. In the case of flaviviruses, to which ZIKV belongs, several reports have indicated that the construction of full-length cDNA clones is difficult due to toxicity during plasmid amplification in Escherichia coli. Toxicity of flaviviral cDNAs has been linked to the activity of cryptic prokaryotic promoters within the region encoding the structural proteins leading to spurious transcription and expression of toxic viral proteins.

SUBMITTER: Munster M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6071187 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature