A novel fluorescent and bioluminescent bireporter influenza a virus to evaluate viral infections

Studying influenza A virus (IAV) requires the use of secondary approaches to detect the presence of virus in infected cells. To overcome this problem, we and others have generated recombinant IAV expressing fluorescent or luciferase reporter genes. These foreign reporter genes can be used as valid surrogates to track the presence of virus. However, the limited capacity for incorporating foreign sequences in the viral genome forced researchers to select a fluorescent or a luciferase reporter gene, depending on the type of study. To circumvent this limitation, we engineered a novel recombinant replication-competent bireporter IAV (BIRFLU) expressing both fluorescent and luciferase reporter genes. In cultured cells, BIRFLU displayed growth kinetics comparable to those of wild-type (WT) virus and was used to screen neutralizing antibodies or compounds with antiviral activity. The expression of two reporter genes allows monitoring of viral inhibition by fluorescence or bioluminescence, overcoming the limitations associated with the use of one reporter gene as a readout. In vivo, BIRFLU effectively infected mice, and both reporter genes were detected using in vivo imaging systems (IVIS). The ability to generate recombinant IAV harboring multiple foreign genes opens unique possibilities for studying virus-host interactions and for using IAV in high-throughput screenings (HTS) to identify novel antivirals that can be incorporated into the therapeutic armamentarium to control IAV infections. Moreover, the ability to genetically manipulate the viral genome to express two foreign genes offers the possibility of developing novel influenza vaccines and the feasibility for using recombinant IAV as vaccine vectors to treat other pathogen infections.This research was partially funded by the New York Influenza Center of Excellence (NYICE) (NIH 272201400005C), a member of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS), contract no. HHSN272201400005C (NYICE), and by U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) grant W81XWH-18-1-0460 to L.M.-S