What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate how long-term persistent replication in sandfly insect cells alters the replicative fitness and virulence of vesicular stomatitis virus in mammalian hosts.

November 1, 1995Journal of VirologyOpen Access

Extreme fitness differences in mammalian and insect hosts after continuous replication of vesicular stomatitis virus in sandfly cells

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Authors

INIsabel S. NovellaUniversity of Toledo Medical Center DCDavid K. ClarkeUniversité de Montréal JQJosep QuerHebron University

Discussion

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Implication

Experimental study demonstrates extreme host-specific fitness divergence of vesicular stomatitis virus after sandfly cell adaptation, highlighting the rapid evolutionary plasticity of RNA viruses.

Key Points

To evaluate how long-term persistent replication in sandfly insect cells alters the replicative fitness and virulence of vesicular stomatitis virus in mammalian hosts.
Cultured a wild-type strain of vesicular stomatitis virus continuously in sandfly cells for 10 months.
Assessed viral fitness in sandfly cells versus mammalian BHK-21 cells at 37°C and evaluated neurovirulence via intracranial inoculation in mice.
Persistent sandfly cell infection produced viral replicative fitness exceeding a 2,000,000-fold advantage in insect cells over mammalian cells.
Sandfly-adapted virus displayed an attenuated phenotype in vivo, requiring a nearly 1,000,000-fold higher intracranial dose than parental virus to kill mice.
A single passage in BHK-21 mammalian cells restored viral replicative fitness to near neutrality and fully restored mouse neurovirulence.

Cite This Study

Novella et al. (1995) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a86662fd1e7d8beda5aed9f https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.69.11.6805-6809.1995

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Implication

Experimental study demonstrates extreme host-specific fitness divergence of vesicular stomatitis virus after sandfly cell adaptation, highlighting the rapid evolutionary plasticity of RNA viruses.