The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) binds to cell receptors through its spike protein, inducing the production of neutralizing antibodies. To avoid the biosafety risks associated with traditional viral neutralization tests that require the use of live viruses, Genomeditech(Shanghai) Co.LTD has established a pseudovirus based on the HIV lentivirus scaffold, with the surface embedded with the spike protein of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus (MERS-S; NCBI Reference Sequence: YP_009047204.1). This pseudovirus can simulate the process of the authentic virus binding to receptors and entering host cells. Additionally, it carries GFP fluorescence and luciferase reporter genes, allowing the activity of pseudovirus infections to be evaluated by observing fluorescence or detecting luciferase activity. It can also be used to assess the effectiveness of neutralizing antibodies in blocking pseudovirus infection of cells. This pseudovirus has no autonomous replication capability and is highly safe, serving as an important tool for the screening of MERS-CoV receptor inhibitors, detection of neutralizing antibody activity, and evaluation of vaccine efficacy.
