Measuring Alphavirus Fidelity Using Non-Infectious Virus Particles.

ABSTRACT: Mutations are incorporated into the genomes of RNA viruses at an optimal frequency and altering this precise frequency has been proposed as a strategy to create live-attenuated vaccines. However, determining the effect of specific mutations that alter fidelity has been difficult because of the rapid selection of the virus population during replication. By deleting residues of the structural polyprotein PE2 cleavage site, E3D56-59, in Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) TC-83 vaccine strain, non-infectious virus particles were used to assess the effect of single mutations on mutation frequency without the interference of selection that results from multiple replication cycles. Next-generation sequencing analysis revealed a significantly lower frequency of transversion mutations and

SUBMITTER: Patterson EI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7291308 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature