Ve. Volchkov et al., Recovery of infectious Ebola virus from complementary DNA: RNA editing of the GP gene and viral cytotoxicity, SCIENCE, 291(5510), 2001, pp. 1965-1969
To study the mechanisms underlying the high pathogenicity of Ebola virus, w
e have established a system that allows the recovery of infectious virus fr
om cloned cDNA and thus permits genetic manipulation. We created a mutant i
n which the editing site of the gene encoding envelope glycoprotein (CP) wa
s eliminated. This mutant no longer expressed the nonstructural glycoprotei
n sGP, Synthesis of CP increased, but most of it accumulated in the endopla
smic reticulum as immature precursor. The mutant was significantly more cyt
otoxic than wild-type virus, indicating that cytotoxicity caused by CP is d
own-regulated by the virus through transcriptional RNA editing and expressi
on of sGP.