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Recovery and Genetic Characterization of a West Nile Virus Isolate from China

Virologica Sinica volume 36, pages 113–121 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) is an important neurotropic flavivirus that is widely distributed globally. WNV strain XJ11129 was first isolated in Xinjiang, China, and its genetic and biological characteristics remain largely unknown. In this study, phylogenetic and sequence analyses revealed that XJ11129 belongs to lineage 1a and shares high genetic identity with the highly pathogenic strain NY99. Then, the full-length genomic cDNA of XJ11129 was amplified and assembled using a modified Gibson assembly (GA) method. The virus (named rXJ11129) was successfully rescued in days following this method. Compared with other wild-type WNV isolates, rXJ11129 exhibited virulence indistinguishable from that of the NY99 strain in vivo. In summary, the genomic and virulence phenotypes of rXJ11129 were characterized in vivo and in vitro, and these data will improve the understanding of the spread and pathogenesis of this reemerging virus.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Project of China (2016YFD0500304), the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (2018ZX09711003), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81621005 and 31770190). C.F.Q. was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (81925025), the Innovative Research Group (81621005) from the NSFC, and the Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (2019-I2M-5–049) from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

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Author notes

  1. Yan Guo, Hongjiang Wang, Songtao Xu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Virology, State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS), Beijing, 100071, China

    Yan Guo, Mengli Cheng, Yongqiang Deng, Xiaofeng Li & Cheng-Feng Qin

  2. PLA Strategic Support Force Characteristic Medical Center, Beijing, 100071, China

    Hongjiang Wang

  3. Department of Arbovirus, NHC Key Laboratory of Biosafety, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 102206, China

    Songtao Xu, Shihong Fu, Fan Li & Huanyu Wang

  4. State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 102206, China

    Songtao Xu, Shihong Fu, Fan Li & Huanyu Wang

  5. Suzhou Institute of System Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Suzhou, 215000, China

    Hangyu Zhou

  6. Department of Immunology, Key Laboratory of Immune Microenvironment and Disease, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, China

    Chao Zhou

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  1. Yan Guo
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Contributions

CFQ and Huanyu Wang designed the experiments. YG, Hongjiang Wang, SX carried out the experiments with the help of CZ, SF, MC, FL. YG, Hongjiang Wang and HZ analyzed the data. YG and Hongjiang Wang wrote the paper. CFQ, Huanyu Wang, XL and YD checked and finalized the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Huanyu Wang or Cheng-Feng Qin.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Animal and Human Rights Statement

The research protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology of Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS).

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Guo, Y., Wang, H., Xu, S. et al. Recovery and Genetic Characterization of a West Nile Virus Isolate from China. Virol. Sin. 36, 113–121 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12250-020-00246-x

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Keywords

  • WNV isolates from China
  • Phylogenetic analysis
  • GA method
  • Biological characteristic