Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus vaccine based on a propagation-defective RNA replicon elicited sterilizing immunity in mice
Coronaviruses (CoVs) have the largest genome among RNA viruses and a proofreading exoribonuclease (nsp14) responsible for high-fidelity RNA synthesis. These properties make CoVs very attractive for the establishment of vaccine platforms or viral vectors since they can stably store large amounts of information without genome integration. Using Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) as a model, a propagation-deficient RNA replicon was generated by removing the envelope (E) gene (essential for viral morphogenesis and involved in virulence) and accessory genes 3, 4a, 4b, and 5 (re...
Source: pnas.org