Abstract
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.
Highlights
The Zika virus (ZIKV) was first identified in the Zika forest, Uganda, in 1947 in samples taken from a captive, sentinel rhesus monkey [1] and was later detected in humans in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania in 1952 [1]
In this study, aiming at verifying presence and replication cycle of ZIKV and ultrastructural cell alterations, C6/36 and Vero cells were experimentally infected with a ZIKV sample isolated from a Brazilian patient and morphologically analyzed by phase contrast light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy
Our analyses demonstrated that both cell lines were susceptible to ZIKV infection; the presence of several viroplasm-like structures was observed in the perinuclear area
Summary
The Zika virus (ZIKV) was first identified in the Zika forest, Uganda, in 1947 in samples taken from a captive, sentinel rhesus monkey [1] and was later detected in humans in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania in 1952 [1]. In 2007, ZIKV spread from Africa and Asia, and the first large outbreak of the disease occurred on the Island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia [2]. In 2013/2014, the virus caused outbreaks in French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands, and New Caledonia [3]. The outbreak in French Polynesia generated thousands of suspected infections [4]. In early 2015, several cases of patients presenting such symptoms as mild fever, rash, conjunctivitis and arthralgia were reported in northeastern Brazil [5]. In 2015, an outbreak of ZIKV fever struck Brazil and other regions of the Americas, causing an estimated 1.3 million cases [5, 6, 7]
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