Transfection of exogenous rotavirus rearranged RNA segments in cells infected with a wild type rotavirus results in subsequent gene rearrangements.
Résumé
: Group A rotaviruses, members of the Reoviridae family, are a major cause of infantile acute gastroenteritis. The rotavirus genome consists of 11 double-stranded RNA segments. In some cases, an RNA segment is replaced by a rearranged RNA segment, which is derived from its standard counterpart by partial sequence duplication. It has been shown that some rearranged segments are preferentially encapsidated into viral progenies after serial passages in cell culture. Based on this characteristic, a reverse genetics system was previously used to introduce exogenous segment 7 rearrangements into an infectious rotavirus. This study extends this reverse genetics system to RNA segments 5 and 11. Transfection of exogenous rotavirus rearranged RNA segments 5 or 11 into cells infected with a wild-type helper rotavirus (bovine strain RF), resulted in subsequent gene rearrangements in the viral progeny. Whilst recombinant viruses were rescued with an exogenous rearranged segment 11, the exogenous segment was modified by a secondary rearrangement. The occurrence of spontaneous rearrangements of wild-type or exogenous segments is a major hindrance to the use of this reverse genetics approach.