Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40629111›Full record

ArticleNature microbiology2025

Amino acid changes in two viral proteins drive attenuation of the yellow fever 17D vaccine.

Jiayu Zhang, Elizabeth C Chavez, Melina Winkler, Jianche Liu, Sebastian Carver, Aaron E Lin, Abhishek Biswas, Tomokazu Tamura, Anna Tseng, Danyang Wang and 11 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature microbiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Update on the Pathophysiology of Yellow Fever Intoxication.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

21 authors.

Jiayu ZhangDepartment of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Elizabeth C ChavezDepartment of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0252-7140
Melina WinklerDepartment of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2010-9241
Jianche LiuDepartment of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-8181-4206
Sebastian CarverDepartment of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Aaron E LinDepartment of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7400-4125
Abhishek BiswasDepartment of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Tomokazu TamuraDepartment of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1395-6610
Anna TsengDepartment of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Danyang WangDepartment of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Aaron BenhamouDepartment of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0008-8192-0162
Aoife K O' ConnellDepartment of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7027-4267
Mao MatsuoDepartment of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Jack E NortonDepartment of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Devin KenneyDepartment of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Britt AdamsonDepartment of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9451-5819
Ralph E KleinerDepartment of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0508-9975
Benjamin BurwitzVaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, OR, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7767-022X
Nicholas A CrosslandDepartment of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3873-9188
Florian DouamDepartment of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Alexander PlossDepartment of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. aploss@princeton.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9322-7252

Funding

Rational design and efficacy testing of vaccines against HCVR01AI168048 · NIAID · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · PI Alexander Andrianov, Thomas R Fuerst · 2022 to 2026
$7.1M
Genetic Viral and Host Adaptations to Breach Species Barriers of HCVR01AI107301 · NIAID · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · PI Thomas Pietschmann, Alexander Ploss · 2013 to 2026
$6.0M
Modeling immune impairments and pathogenesis in novel humanized mice for HBV-HIV co-infectionR01AI138797 · NIAID · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI PLOSS, ALEXANDER, SU, LISHAN · 2018 to 2022
$3.9M
Data-Driven Mathematical and Computational Modeling of Hepatitis D Infection and Treatment ResponseR01AI146917 · NIAID · LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO · PI DAHARI, HAREL · 2020 to 2024
$3.5M
Targeting hepatitis B virus cccDNA during HBV/HIV co-infectionR01AI181664 · NIAID · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · PI PLOSS, ALEXANDER · 2024 to 2025
$3.0M
Mechanisms of hepatitis B virus cccDNA formationR01AI153236 · NIAID · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · PI PLOSS, ALEXANDER · 2020 to 2024
$2.8M
Chemical Approaches to Illuminate the Epitranscriptome (Administrative/Equipment Supplement)R01GM132189 · NIGMS · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · PI KLEINER, RALPH ELLIOT · 2019 to 2023
$1.6M
Vectra Polaris Quantitative Pathology Imaging SystemS10OD030269 · OD · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI CROSSLAND, NICHOLAS ALEXANDER · 2021 to 2021
$402k
Characterization of a human-specific positive regulator of flavivirus infectionK22AI144050 · NIAID · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI DOUAM, FLORIAN · 2021 to 2023
$344k
Ventana Discovery Ultra Research Autostainer: an Ex+ Core serviceS10OD026983 · OD · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI CROSSLAND, NICHOLAS ALEXANDER · 2019 to 2019
$207k
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (Cancer Research Fund of the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Foundation) DRG-2432-21NIAID NIH HHS K22 AI144050NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI107301NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI138797NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI146917NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI153236NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI168048NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI181664NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM132189NIH HHS S10 OD026983NIH HHS S10 OD030269NSF | BIO | Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) NSF MCB-1942565U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) K22AI144050U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) R01AI181664U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) U19A171401U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | NIH Office of the Director (OD) S10OD026983U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | NIH Office of the Director (OD) S10OD030269
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The live-attenuated yellow fever 17D vaccine strain differs genetically only minimally from its virulent parent. However, it remains unclear which sequence differences lead to virulence or attenuation. Here we demonstrate, using SHAPE-MaP, that these mutations do not induce global RNA structure changes and show that protein sequence mutations are mostly responsible for the phenotypic differences between 17D and virulent YFV. Using a highly modular, combinatorial genetic approach, we identified key mutations in the envelope (E) and non-structural 2A (NS2A) proteins that increase 17D's ability to spread and enhance host antiviral responses. Introducing these mutations into infectious clones of virulent YFV genomes results in viral attenuation in vitro and in two mouse models. Collectively, our results define the genetic basis for 17D attenuation and highlight a potentially general approach for creating live-attenuated vaccines by introducing mutations resulting in similar phenotypic changes in other pathogenic viruses.

Indexed as

Viral Envelope ProteinsViral Nonstructural ProteinsViral ProteinsYellow FeverYellow Fever VaccineYellow fever virusAmino Acid SubstitutionAnimalsChlorocebus aethiopsDisease Models, AnimalFemaleHumansMiceMutationRNA, ViralVaccines, AttenuatedRNA, ViralVaccines, AttenuatedViral Envelope ProteinsViral Nonstructural ProteinsViral ProteinsYellow Fever Vaccine

Identifiers

PMID40629111
PMCPMC12313524

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.