A strategy for attenuating a virus by modifying its evolutionary potential

RNA viruses, like influenza viruses, have broad genetic variability, which gives them a high adaptive potential. As part of the fight against RNA viruses, scientists at the Institut Pasteur – evolutionary virologists – decided to alter their future. Along with colleagues from Lund University (Sweden), they succeeded in altering the genomes of an enterovirus and an influenza virus, thereby reducing their ability to reproduce and be virulent. This method of vaccine design is innovative, targeted and highly precise.

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