VIRAL CHIMERA COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS

摘要

Chimeric nucleic acids are presented in which a portion of the polymerase gene or one picornavirus is replaced with the corresponding portion of another picornavirus. Remarkably, such constructs can produce positive and negative strand RNA in vitro when complemented by wild-type P3 polypeptide. Even more advantageously, such chimeric nucleic acids can be used to (a) determine mode of action of antiviral drugs when used with P3 mutants defective in IRES binding, protein processing, and/or 3D polymerase, (b) translate antiviral activity from one viral species to another species, and (c) investigate protein-protein and/or protein-RNA interactions.