Targeted Mutations in the Fusion Peptide Region of La Crosse Virus Attenuate Neuroinvasion and Confer Protection against Encephalitis.

ABSTRACT: La Crosse virus (LACV) is a major cause of pediatric encephalitis and aseptic meningitis in the Midwestern, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern United States, where it is an emerging pathogen. The LACV Gc glycoprotein plays a critical role in the neuropathogenesis of LACV encephalitis as the putative virus attachment protein. Previously, we identified and experimentally confirmed the location of the LACV fusion peptide within Gc and generated a panel of recombinant LACVs (rLACVs) containing mutations in the fusion peptide as well as the wild-type sequence. These rLACVs retained their ability to cause neuronal death in a primary embryonic rat neuronal culture system, despite decreased replication and fusion phenotypes. To test the role of the fusion peptide in vivo, we tested rLACVs in an age-depend

SUBMITTER: Hollidge BS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9317099 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature