A mutant gene that allows the rubella virus to thrive has been “reverse engineered” to slow the spread of the disease.
US researchers at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry created a mutant version of the RNA virus, which spreads by blocking the pathways in cells, stopping the process that triggers cell death and thus allowing the virus to replicate and spread.
Led by Tom Hobman, the team carried out a reverse genetic engineering process by mutating the capsid COR protein. This weakened the virus’s ability to replicate itself because the cells died much earlier in the infection process and more often.
The results of the research are published in the Public Library of Science journal Pathogens.
Hobman said that because RNA viruses also cause other viral diseases, including AIDS, influenza, hepatitis C, West Nile disease and Dengue fever, there may be scope to widen the research.
His team is now studying the West Nile and Dengue viruses to see if these RNA viruses prevent cell suicide in the same way.
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