Infection and replication of human adenovirus type 3 possessing type 5 fiber protein in rodent cells

Abstract

Human adenovirus (HAdV) is an important respiratory pathogen in children that often leads to wider outbreaks of acute respiratory tract infection. HAdV group B contains the most important serotypes, HAdV-3 and HAdV-7, responsible for infection of humans. However, due to the species barrier, there is no suitable and effective animal model of HAdV-B for drug and vaccine development. Here we generated a recombinant capsid-chimeric HAdV-3, rAd3E-Fk5, by replacing the HAdV-3 fiber gene with that of the group C, type 5 virus. The rAd3E-Fk5 virus infected and replicated efficiently in both BALB/c mice and golden hamster primary kidney epithelial cells. However, the infectivity of the parent HAdV-3 virus was very low in hamster primary kidney cells. The infectivity of the recombinant rAd3E-Fk5 virus was also confirmed by staining for viral late protein, hexon, in infected primary rodent cells. These results indicate that the fiber protein may be a limiting factor in determining the species specificity of HAdV-3. This chimeric virus may be useful for developing an animal model of HAdV-3 infection, for vaccine and antiviral drug evaluation and for determination of the pathogenic mechanisms of HAdV-B.