High Fidelity of Yellow Fever Virus RNA Polymerase

Three consecutive plaque purifications of four chimeric yellow fever virus-dengue virus (ChimeriVax-DEN) vaccine candidates against dengue virus types 1 to 4 were performed. The genome of each candidate was sequenced by the consensus approach after plaque purification and additional passages in cell culture. Our data suggest that the nucleotide sequence error rate for SP6 RNA polymerase used in the in vitro transcription step to initiate virus replication was as high as 1.34 × 10^-4 per copied nucleotide and that the error rate of the yellow fever virus RNA polymerase employed by the chimeras for genome replication in infected cells was as low as 1.9 × 10^-7 to 2.3 × 10^-7. Clustering of beneficial mutations that accumulated after multiple virus passages suggests that the N-terminal part of the prM protein, a specific site in the middle of the E protein, and the NS4B protein may be essential for nucleocapsid-envelope interaction during flavivirus assembly.