In vitro and in vivo RNAi screening with a West Nile virus library encoding artificial microRNAs identifies novel host restriction factors

Abstract

West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus, originally isolated in Uganda in 1937, and responsible for sporadic outbreaks in Africa, Europe and Asia. In 1999 WNV was introduced into the USA starting in New York City, and has since become endemic in North America leading to thousands of cases annually. In Australia, a closely related strain of West Nile virus called Kunjin virus (WNV KUN ) is endemic to the country. Despite the antigenic similarity between the two strains,