An attenuated replication-competent chikungunya virus with a fluorescently tagged envelope.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is the most common alphavirus infecting humans worldwide, causing acute and chronically debilitating arthralgia at a great economic expense.

Methodology/principal findings

To facilitate our study of CHIKV, we generated a mCherry tagged replication-competent chimeric virus, CHIKV 37997-mCherry. Single particle cryoEM demonstrated icosahedral organization of the chimeric virus and the display of mCherry proteins on virus surface. CHIKV 37997-mCherry is attenuated in both IFNαR knockout and wild-type mice. Strong anti-CHIKV and anti-mCherry antibody responses were induced in CHIKV 37997-mCherry infected mice.

Conclusions/significance

Our work suggests that chimeric alphaviruses displaying foreign antigen can serve as vaccines against

SUBMITTER: Jin J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6086482 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature