Rhesus monkey rhadinovirus (RRV): construction of a RRV-GFP recombinant virus and development of assays to assess viral replication.

Rhesus monkey rhadinovirus (RRV) is a gamma-2-herpesvirus that is closely related to Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV-8). Lack of an efficient culture system to grow high titers of virus, and the lack of an in vivo animal model system, has hampered the study of KSHV replication and pathogenesis. RRV is capable of replicating to high titers on fibroblasts, thus facilitating the construction of recombinant rhadinoviruses.