Semliki Forest Virus

The Semliki Forest virus was first isolated from mosquitoes in the Semliki Forest, Uganda by the Uganda Virus Research Institute in 1942 and described by Smithburn & Haddow. It is known to cause disease in animals including humans. It is an Alphavirus found in central, eastern, and southern Africa. The Semliki Forest virus is a positive-stranded RNA virus with a genome of approximately 13,000 base pairs which encodes nine proteins. The 5’ two thirds of the genome encode four non-structural proteins concerned with RNA synthesis and the structural proteins are encoded in the 3’ third. Of the structural proteins, the C proteins makes up the icosahedral capsid which is enveloped by a lipid bilayer, derived from the host cell. The outermost surface of the virus is almost entirely covered by heterodimers of glycoproteins E1 and E2, arranged in interconnective trimers, which form an outer shell. Trimers are anchored in the membrane by an E2 cytoplasmic domain that associates with the nucleocapsid.