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J Virol, March 1998, p. 2150-2159, Vol. 72, No. 3
Institute of Molecular Biology Division
I1 and
Institute for Experimental
Immunology,
Received 18 September 1997/Accepted 14 November 1997
Measles virus (MV) and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) are both
members of the Mononegavirales but are only distantly
related. We generated two genetically stable chimeric viruses. In MGV, the reading frames of the MV envelope glycoproteins H and F were substituted by a single reading frame encoding the VSV G glycoprotein; MG/FV is similar but encodes a G/F hybrid in which the VSV G
cytoplasmic tail was replaced by that of MV F. In contrast to MG/FV,
MGV virions do not contain the MV matrix (M) protein. This demonstrates
that virus assembly is possible in the absence of M; conversely, the cytoplasmic domain of F allows incorporation of M and enhances assembly. The formation of chimeric viruses was substantially delayed
and the titers obtained were reduced about 50-fold in comparison to
standard MV. In the novel chimeras, transcription and replication are
mediated by the MV ribonucleoproteins but the envelope glycoproteins
dictate the host range. Mice immunized with the chimeric viruses were
protected against lethal doses of wild-type VSV. These findings suggest
that it is feasible to construct MV variants bearing a variety of
different envelopes for use as vaccines or for gene therapeutic
purposes.
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Chimeric Measles Viruses with a Foreign
Envelope
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut
für Molekularbiologie, Abteilung I, Universität
Zürich, Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
Phone: 41 (1) 633 24 94. Fax: 41 (1) 371 72 05. E-mail:
naim{at}molbio1.unizh.ch.
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