Repost re: possible reservoir for Ebola/Marburg

[brett]

>> >
>> >As regard DNA and RNA not being able to infect, DNA is being used to 
>> >inoculate animals and cause disease.  DNA not being infectious used to be 
>> >the dogma but, this is no longer true.  Viral DNA is used to infect.  Mary
>> >
>
>I've never heard of this either.  I routinely transfect viral DNA (an
>infectious clone) into tissue culture cells and get virus out afterward
> But
>RNA????  I work with RNA every day and I cant imagine it being
>infectious.  RNAses are everywhere and I cant imagine a naked RNA molecule
>lasting long enough to be infectious. 
>
>Don Haut 
>Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
>University of Missouri-Columbia
>C601591 at showme.missouri.edu


Like you, I routinely transfect viral infectious clones and get out live
virus...perhaps one of the most Frankenstein things we do. But, we work
with (+) RNA viruses (flavis, alphas), so we transfect transcripts made in
vitro. Highly infectious...if you have a decent transfection protocol. Now,
if we could only make that hep C infectious clone....





Brett Lindenbach
    
Lucille P. Markey Student in Human Pathobiology    
Program in Immunology                              
Washington University - St Louis                  
brett at borcim.wustl.edu