Reverse genetics systems for SARS-CoV-2: Development and applications

Hou-Li Cai; Yao-Wei Huang

doi:10.1016/j.virs.2023.10.001

Reverse genetics systems for SARS-CoV-2: Development and applications

Virol Sin. 2023 Dec;38(6):837-850. doi: 10.1016/j.virs.2023.10.001. Epub 2023 Oct 11.

Authors

Hou-Li Cai¹, Yao-Wei Huang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
² Department of Veterinary Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China; State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China. Electronic address: yhuang@scau.edu.cn.

Abstract

The recent emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused serious harm to human health and struck a blow to global economic development. Research on SARS-CoV-2 has greatly benefited from the use of reverse genetics systems, which have been established to artificially manipulate the viral genome, generating recombinant and reporter infectious viruses or biosafety level 2 (BSL-2)-adapted non-infectious replicons with desired modifications. These tools have been instrumental in studying the molecular biological characteristics of the virus, investigating antiviral therapeutics, and facilitating the development of attenuated vaccine candidates. Here, we review the construction strategies, development, and applications of reverse genetics systems for SARS-CoV-2, which may be applied to other CoVs as well.

Keywords: Infectious clones; Live attenuated vaccines; Replicons; Reverse genetics systems; SARS-CoV-2.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Reverse Genetics
SARS-CoV-2* / genetics