INVESTIGATING A PUTATIVE NON STRUCTURAL PROTEIN OF THE BIRNAVIRUS DROSOPHILA-X VIRUS
INVESTIGATING A PUTATIVE NON STRUCTURAL PROTEIN OF THE BIRNAVIRUS DROSOPHILA-X VIRUS
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Date
2004-08-12
Authors
Savage, Jason Eric
Advisor
Wu, Louisa
Song, Wenxia
Song, Wenxia
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Abstract
Drosophila-X Virus (DXV) is the prototype virus of the Entomobirnavirus genera in the family Birnaviridae; its genome consists of two double-stranded RNA segments. DXV has two open reading frames on segment A, one encoding a polyprotein and the other capable of encoding a putative 27-kDa non structural protein (DXV-NS).
This project investigated the existence of DXV-NS since this putative protein is unique to Birnaviridae. Research into the nature of DXV-NS was furthered by the development of a number of tools: recombinant baculovirus and a stable Drosophila cell line expressing DXV-NS; an antibody against NS; a reporter construct to test a potential -1 frameshift signal. Though in the course of this research much was learned about DXV-NS, the greater question as to whether this open reading frame is expressed by DXV or is merely an artifact remains elusive.