돼지생식기호흡기증후군(porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome; PRRS) 바이러스의 ORF5a 단백질이 바이러스 생장에 필수적인 단백질인지 확인하기 위해서 PRRS 바이러스 감염성 클론을 이용하여 ORF5a 단백질 유전자를 결손시킨 변이 클론을 제작하였다. 야생형 PRRS 바이러스 감염성 클론과 ORF5a 단백질이 결손된 변이 클론을 BHK-tailless pCD163 세포에 transfection시킨결과 변이 클론에서 감염성 있는 바이러스가 숙주세포로부터 만들어지지 않았다. 이 결과가 ORF5a 단백질 발현의 부재 때문인지 검증하기 위해서 BHK-tailless pCD163-tailless 세포에 ORF5a 단백질을 안정적으로 발현하는 세포주를 제작하였고 이 세포주에 동일한transfection 실험을 한 결과 세포에서 공급되는 ORF5a 단백질 발현에 의해 감염성 있는 바이러스가 만들어지는 것을 확인하였다. 이로써 ORF5a 단백질이 PRRS 바이러스가 생장하는데 있어서 필수적인 단백질임을 확인할 수 있었다.

In this study, a DNA-launched reverse genetics system was developed from a type 2 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) strain, KNU-12. The complete genome of 15,412 nucleotides was assembled as a single cDNA clone and placed under the eukaryotic CMV promoter. Upon transfection of BHK-tailless pCD163 cells with a full-length cDNA clone, viable and infectious type 2 progeny PRRSV were rescued. The reconstituted virus was found to maintain growth properties similar to those of the parental virus in porcine alveolar macrophage (PAM) cells. With the availability of this type 2 PRRSV infectious clone, we first explored the biological relevance of ORF5a in the PRRSV replication cycle. Therefore, we used a PRRSV reverse genetics system to generate an ORF5a knockout mutant clone by changing the ORF5a translation start codon and introducing a stop codon at the 7th codon of ORF5a. The ORF5a knockout mutant was found to exhibit a lack of infectivity in both BHK-tailless pCD163 and PAM-pCD163 cells, suggesting that inactivation of ORF5a expression is lethal for infectious virus production. In order to restore the ORF5a gene-deleted PRRSV, complementing cell lines were established to stably express the ORF5a protein of PRRSV. ORF5a-expressing cells were capable of supporting the production of the replicationdefective virus, indicating complementation of the impaired ORF5a gene function of PRRSV in trans.