Research progress and application of norovirus reverse genetics systems

Abstract:

Norovirus is the main foodborne pathogen of human acute gastroenteritis. Due to its rapid mutation and lack of a robust cell culture system and small animal infection model, thus hinders our in-depth study of this pathogen. In recent years, the discovery of culturable murine norovirus, the establishment of human norovirus intestinal enteroids cell culture system, and the construction of reverse genetic operation system of norovirus have provided favorable tools for the systematic study of the pathogen, and deepen our understanding of its life cycle, replication mechanism, pathogenic mechanism, virus-host interaction, and so on. In this paper, we reviewed the progress of reverse genetics in norovirus research and discussed the application and development foreground of reverse genetics technology in norovirus molecular virology research and vaccine preparation, aiming to provide new strategies for virus prevention and exploring new drug targets against norovirus, and further promoting the food safety risk prevention and control in our country.

Key words:norovirus, reverse genetics, gastroenteritis, infectious clones