The potential of murine cytomegalovirus as a viral vector for immunocontraception [mice control]. [Conference paper]
1994
Shellam, G.R. (Western Australia Univ., Nedlands. Dept. of Microbiology)
Rodenticides are costly and are of limited usefulness for the control of mice outbreaks, and the need for a biological control agent is widely recognized. The options for the use of an infectious agent to control mouse populations are considered. The 3 main types are: infectious agents which establish lethal infection; those which directly interfere with fertility; and recombinant virus vectors encoding fertility-associated proteins such as zona pellucida or sperm antigens in order to induce immunocontraceptive responses in infected mice. Ectromelia, a murine pox virus, has the potential for reducing mouse populations by lethal infection but it is not present in wild mice in Australia. The disadvantages of using ectromelia are that it would pose a significant threat to colonies of laboratory mice, there appears to be substantial innate resistance in Australian wild mice and it may not be entirely mouse-specific, thus placing native rodents at risk. A number of factors influencing the selection of a virus as a vector for immunocontraception are discussed. The mouse-specific murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) fits most of these criteria. Infection with MCMV is already widespread in Australia with 80-90 percent of Mus domesticus tested being seropositive. MCMV establishes a persistent, non-lethal infection, and is a suitable vector for the insertion of foreign genes to achieve an immunocontraceptive effect.
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