INVESTIGATING A PUTATIVE NON STRUCTURAL PROTEIN OF THE BIRNAVIRUS DROSOPHILA-X VIRUS

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.