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Journal of Virology, September 2001, p. 8021-8030, Vol. 75, No. 17
Department of Virology and Parasitology,
Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Aichi
470-1192,1 Department of Hygiene, School
of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo
060-0061,2 Department of Virology,
Aichi Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Nagoya, Aichi
462-8576,3 and Department of
Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo
162-8640,4 Japan
Received 9 March 2001/Accepted 5 June 2001
Aichi virus is the type species of a new genus,
Kobuvirus, of the family Picornaviridae. In
this study, we constructed a full-length cDNA clone of Aichi virus
whose in vitro transcripts were infectious to Vero cells. During
construction of the infectious cDNA clone, a novel sequence of 32 nucleotides was identified at the 5' end of the genome.
Computer-assisted prediction of the secondary structure of the 5' end
of the genome, including the novel sequence, suggested the formation of
a stable stem-loop structure consisting of 42 nucleotides. The function
of this stem-loop in virus replication was investigated using various
site-directed mutants derived from the infectious cDNA clone. Our data
indicated that correct folding of the stem-loop at the 5' end of the
positive strand, but not at the 3' end of the negative strand, is
critical for viral RNA replication. The primary sequence in the lower
part of the stem was also suggested to be crucial for RNA replication.
In contrast, nucleotide changes in the loop segment did not so severely
reduce the efficiency of virus replication. A double mutant, in which both nucleotide stretches of the middle part of the stem were replaced
by their complementary nucleotides, had efficient RNA replication and
translation abilities but was unable to produce viruses. These results
indicate that the stem-loop at the 5' end of the Aichi virus genome is
an element involved in both viral RNA replication and production of
infectious virus particles.
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.17.8021-8030.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Construction of an Infectious cDNA Clone of Aichi
Virus (a New Member of the Family Picornaviridae)
and Mutational Analysis of a Stem-Loop Structure at the 5' End
of the Genome
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Virology and Parasitology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192, Japan. Phone: 81-562-93-2486. Fax:
81-562-93-4008. E-mail: jsasaki{at}fujita-hu.ac.jp.
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