Generation of a Transgenic Mouse Model of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection and Disease

Abstract

Small and economical animal models are required for the controlled and extensive studies needed for elucidating pathogenesis and development of vaccines and antivirals against MERS. Mice are the most desirable small-animal species for this purpose because of availability and the existence of a thorough knowledge base, particularly of genetics and immunology. The standard small animals, mice, hamsters, and ferrets, all lack the functional MERS-CoV receptor and are not susceptible to infection. So, initial studies were done with nonhuman primates, expensive models of limited availability. A mouse lung infection model was described where a mouse adenovirus was used to transfect lung cells for receptor expression. Nevertheless, all generally agree that a transgenic mouse model expressing the DPP4 receptor is needed for MERS-CoV research. We have developed this transgenic mouse model as indicated in this study. This new and unique transgenic mouse model will be useful for furthering MERS research.