A novel expression cassette of lyssavirus shows that the distantly related Mokola virus can rescue a defective rabies virus genome.

Philippe Le Mercier (1) , Yves Jacob (1) , Kyle Tanner (2) , Noël Tordo (1)

1 Lyssavirus
2 Département de biochimie médicale

By comparing three expression vectors for the rabies virus (Rv) minigenome, we show that the characteristic of the Rv RNA is important for efficient rescue despite its not being crucial for replication. Moreover, we show that the coexpression of the viral proteins from helper Rv and Mokola virus could rescue the Rv minigenome while Rv-related European bat lyssavirus 1 could not, suggesting that the signals controlling transcription and replication are conserved in the distantly related Rv and Mokola virus.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Virology

Philippe Le Mercier, Yves Jacob, Kyle Tanner, Noël Tordo. A novel expression cassette of lyssavirus shows that the distantly related Mokola virus can rescue a defective rabies virus genome.. Journal of Virology, 2002, 76 (4), pp.2024-7. ⟨10.1128/JVI.76.4.2024-2027.2002⟩. ⟨pasteur-00174707⟩