Structural investigation of C6/36 and Vero cell cultures infected with a Brazilian Zika virus.

• Main Authors: Debora Ferreira Barreto-Vieira, Fernanda Cunha Jácome, Marcos Alexandre Nunes da Silva, Gabriela Cardoso Caldas, Ana Maria Bispo de Filippis, Patrícia Carvalho de Sequeira, Elen Mello de Souza, Audrien Alves Andrade, Pedro Paulo de Abreu Manso, Gisela Freitas Trindade, Sheila Maria Barbosa Lima, Ortrud Monika Barth
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5595330?pdf=render

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of the flavivirus genus, and its genome is approximately 10.8 kilobases of positive-strand RNA enclosed in a capsid and surrounded by a membrane. Studies on the replication dynamics of ZIKV are scarce, which limits the development of antiviral agents and vaccines directed against ZIKV. In this study, Aedes albopictus mosquito lineage cells (C6/36 cells) and African green monkey kidney epithelial cells (Vero cells) were inoculated with a ZIKV sample isolated from a Brazilian patient, and the infection was characterized by immunofluorescence staining, phase contrast light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and real-time RT-PCR. The infection was observed in both cell lineages, and ZIKV particles were observed inside lysosomes, the rough endoplasmic reticulum and viroplasm-like structures. The susceptibility of C6/36 and Vero cells to ZIKV infection was demonstrated. Moreover, this study showed that part of the replicative cycle may occur within viroplasm-like structures, which has not been previously demonstrated in other flaviviruses.