Characterization of an infectious clone of the wild-type yellow fever virus Asibi strain that is able to infect and disseminate in mosquitoes

J Gen Virol. 2005 Jun;86(Pt 6):1747-1751. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.80746-0.

Abstract

Infectious clone technology provides an opportunity to study the molecular basis of arthropod-virus interactions in detail. This study describes the development of an infectious clone of the prototype yellow fever virus Asibi strain (YFV-As) with the purpose of identifying sequences or domains that influence infection dynamics in the mosquito vector. The full-length cDNA of YFV-As virus was produced from RT-PCR products of parental viral RNA. These were cloned into a low-copy-number plasmid previously used to develop the YFV-17D infectious clone (pACNR/FLYF-17D). Virus recovered from the infectious clone exhibited biological characteristics similar to those of the parental YFV-As, including replication kinetics, reactivity to flavivirus cross-reactive and YFV-specific antibodies and infection and dissemination rates in Aedes aegypti, the principal mosquito vector of YFV. These data provide the basis for future studies with chimeric Asibi/17D viruses to identify the determinants of vaccine attenuation in the vector.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Aedes / virology*
  • Animals
  • DNA, Complementary / genetics
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • RNA, Viral / genetics*
  • Virus Replication
  • Yellow fever virus / genetics
  • Yellow fever virus / physiology*

Substances

  • DNA, Complementary
  • RNA, Viral

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AY640589