biostudies-literatureUnknown25(10)Wen YMammarenavirus are a large family of enveloped negative-strand RNA viruses that include several agents responsible for severe hemorrhagic fevers. Until now, no FDA-licensed drug has been admitted for treating an arenavirus infection, and only few effective anti-arenavirus drugs have been tested in vivo. In this work, we designed a recombinant reporter arenavirus lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus that stably expressed nanoluciferase (LCMV-Nluc). The LCMV-Nluc was proved to share similar biological properties with wild-type LCMV and the Nluc intensity reliably reflected viral replication both in vitro and in vivo. Replication of the Nluc-encoding virus in living mice can be visualized by real-time bioluminescent imaging, and bioluminescence can be detected in a variety of organs of infected mice. This work provides a novel approach that enables real-time study of the arenavirus infection and is a convenient and valuable tool for screening of compounds that are active against arenaviruses in vitro and in living mice.iScience105090https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9519613biostudies-literatureVisualizing lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection in cells and living mice.PMC9519613Wen YJin RMei HXiao GShang WZhou FChen HZhang LXu HWan WWang JWu XfalseVisualizing lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection in cells and living mice.Mammarenavirus are a large family of enveloped negative-strand RNA viruses that include several agents responsible for severe hemorrhagic fevers. Until now, no FDA-licensed drug has been admitted for treating an arenavirus infection, and only few effective anti-arenavirus drugs have been tested in vivo. In this work, we designed a recombinant reporter arenavirus lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus that stably expressed nanoluciferase (LCMV-Nluc). The LCMV-Nluc was proved to share similar biological properties with wild-type LCMV and the Nluc intensity reliably reflected viral replication both in vitro and in vivo. Replication of the Nluc-encoding virus in living mice can be visualized by real-time bioluminescent imaging, and bioluminescence can be detected in a variety of organs of infected mice. This work provides a novel approach that enables real-time study of the arenavirus infection and is a convenient and valuable tool for screening of compounds that are active against arenaviruses in vitro and in living mice.2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Oct2024-10-18T22:46:02.906Z2024-10-18T22:46:02.906ZS-EPMC95196133618535610.1016/j.isci.2022.105090