Manipulating S Segment Sense of Bunyaviruses

This research delves specifically into the NS protein, which is encoded by the S segment of orthobunyaviruses. It has been difficult to study the expression of the NS protein because of its overlapping reading frame with the viral nucleocapsid protein. Therefore, in order to study the activity of NS specifically, an orthobunyavirus vector was designed with an ambisense S segment; for context, the S segment is typically negative sense in orthobunyaviruses. The aim of this research is to elucidate the molecular biology underlying viral function by studying specific proteins and genes involved in viral function.

To learn more about this topic, here is the primary article by Knippenberg and Elliott.

"Flexibility of bunyavirus genomes: creation of an orthobunyavirus with an ambisense S segment." Knippenberg and Elliott. Journal of Virology. April 2015, Volume 89, Issue 7. doi:10.1128/JVI.03595-14

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