Visualizing the Replication Cycle of Bunyamwera Orthobunyavirus Expressing Fluorescent Protein-tagged Gc Glycoprotein.
- The virion glycoproteins Gn and Gc of Bunyamwera virus (BUNV), the prototype of the Bunyaviridae family and also the Orthobunyavirus genus, are encoded by the M RNA genome segment, and are involved in both viral attachment and entry. After their synthesis Gn and Gc form a heterodimer in the ER and transport to the Golgi for virus assembly. The N-terminal half of the Gc ectodomain was previously shown to be dispensable for virus replication in cell culture (Shi, X., J. Goli, G. Clark, K. Brauburger, and R. M. Elliott. 2009. J. Gen. Virol. 90:2483-2492). In this study, the coding sequences for fluorescent proteins, either enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) or mCherry fluorescent protein, were fused to the N-terminus of truncated Gc, and two recombinant BUNV (rBUNGc-eGFP and rBUNGc-mCherry) were rescued by reverse genetics. The recombinant viruses showed bright autofluorescence under UV light and were competent for replication in various mammalian cell lines. rBUNGc-mCherry was completely stable over 10 passages whereas internal, in-frame deletions occurred in the chimeric Gc-eGFP protein of rBUNGc-eGFP resulting in loss of fluorescence between passages 5 and 7. Autofluorescence of the recombinant viruses allowed visualization of different stages of the infection cycle, including virus attachment to the cell surface, budding of virus particles in Golgi membranes, and virus-induced morphological changes to the Golgi at later stages of infection. The fluorescent protein tagged viruses will be valuable reagents for live cell imaging studies to investigate virus entry, budding and morphogenesis in real-time.
- Document Type:
- Reference
- Product Catalog Number:
- 6500