Figure 1

HEK.293 cells are susceptible to infection by ChikV. HEK.293 cells cultured on glass coverslips were incubated from 8 h to 48 h with a MOI = 1 of the ChikV or mock infected. (A) ChikV infection was monitored by immunofluorescence microscopy 48 h post infection by detection of viral antigens using anti-E1 monoclonal antibody and Alexa Fluor 594-conjugated secondary reagents. Nuclei were stained with DAPI. Magnification = 200× (B) The percentage of ChikV-infected cells was quantified during the time course of infection (at least 100 DAPI-stained cells were counted in four separate fields). (C) RNA copy number in culture supernatant was determined by qRT-PCR amplification of the E1 gene. A serial dilution of an E1 plasmid was used as a standard. Values are expressed as the mean of five independent experiments +/- standard deviations.