Experimental investigations of mastrevirus molecular biology and evolution

This dissertation describes three major sets of experiments, all of which involved the construction and use of various reciprocal chimaeric MSV constructs. First, chimaeric viruses were used in genetic complementation-type experiments to investigate the biological significance of interactions between the two virion-sense open reading frames (ORFs) of MSV, their products, and the rest of the genome. Six chimaeric MSV constructs were made by reciprocally exchanging the ORFs encoding movement protein (MP) and coat protein (CP) individually, and in pairs, between MSV-Kom and MSV-Set, which share just 78% overall nucleotide identity. Analysis of symptomatology and infection efficiency of chimaeras and wild-type parental viruses revealed evidence of functionally relevant specific interactions between MSV MP and CP.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Van der Walt, Eric

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Rybicki, Ed
• Martin, D P

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/4346

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/4346