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Repair of an Attenuated Low-Passage Murine Cytomegalovirus Bacterial Artificial Chromosome Identifies a Novel Spliced Gene Essential for Salivary Gland Tropism

The cloning of herpesviruses as bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) has revolutionized the study of herpesvirus biology, allowing rapid and precise manipulation of viral genomes. Several clinical strains of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) have been cloned as BACs; however, no low-passage strains of murine CMV, which provide a model mimicking these isolates, have been cloned. Here, the low-passage G4 strain of was BAC cloned. G4 carries an m157 gene that does not ligate the natural killer cell-activating receptor, Ly49H, meaning that unlike laboratory strains of MCMV, this virus replicates well in C57BL/6 mice.

Citation:
Redwood AJ, Masters LL, Chan B, Leary S, Forbes C, Jonjic S, et al. Repair of an Attenuated Low-Passage Murine Cytomegalovirus Bacterial Artificial Chromosome Identifies a Novel Spliced Gene Essential for Salivary Gland Tropism. J Virol. 2020;94(22).  

Keywords:
Bacterial artificial chromosomes; G4; murine CMV; sgg1; sgg1.1; tissue tropism.

Abstract:
The cloning of herpesviruses as bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) has revolutionized the study of herpesvirus biology, allowing rapid and precise manipulation of viral genomes. Several clinical strains of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) have been cloned as BACs; however, no low-passage strains of murine CMV, which provide a model mimicking these isolates, have been cloned. Here, the low-passage G4 strain of was BAC cloned. G4 carries an m157 gene that does not ligate the natural killer cell-activating receptor, Ly49H, meaning that unlike laboratory strains of MCMV, this virus replicates well in C57BL/6 mice.