Reverse genetics system for flaviviruses

Abstract

Flaviviruses such as Japanese encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, yellow fever virus, dengue virus, and tick-borne encephalitis virus belong to a family Flaviviridae. These viruses are transmitted to vertebrates by infected mosquitoes or ticks, producing diseases, which have a serious impact on global public health. Reverse genetics is a powerful tool for studying the viruses. Although infectious full-length clones have been obtained for multiple flaviviruses, their early-stage development had the difficulty because of the instability problem of the viral cDNA in E. coli. Several strategies have been developed to circumvent the problem of infectious clone instability. The current knowledge accumulated on reverse genetics system of flaviviruses and its application are summarized in this review.