A virus like particle approach to study the Chikungunya virus envelope protein mutations.

Virus like particles (VLPs) are used as a tool to study the mutations in the structural genes that influence the virus assembly and entry process. We observed that Chikungunya VLP with the E1:V291I mutation produced more fluorescence-positive cells in Vero cells than the other mutant VLPs (E1:A226V, D284E, and E2:V264A) and wild-type VLP tested in this study. According to the findings, the V291I mutation may aid the virus's ability to enter the cells more efficiently than wild-type VLPs. The study concludes that VLP is a useful model for studying the virus entry process in cells.

Ultraviolet Inactivation of Chikungunya Virus.

OBJECTIVE: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a rapidly emerging arbovirus causing millions of infections in more than 40 countries. CHIKV is typically a biosafety level 3 pathogen in many countries and handling of CHIKV requires a high standard of laboratory safety settings. Many studies require the whole virus to be handled in a biosafety level 2 setting. A potential solution for managing this problem is pathogen inactivation without affecting its antigenicity. In the present study, we attempted to inactivate CHIKV by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. METHODS: Different UV doses were used to inactivate CHIKV. The replication status of the inactivated virus was verified in cell lines. Western blot, electron microscopy, and immune fluorescence assay were used, respectively, to view the antigenicity, structural integrity, and entry of the virus into cell lines. RESULTS: The inactivation was complete when a UV dose of 0.09 J/cm2 for 3 × 30 s was used and no change in antigenicity and integrity was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes that the UV-inactivated virus is antigenically stable and could be used in biosafety level 2 settings for different experiments.