Native and Engineered Simulants for Dna Virus Threat Agents

There is currently only one virus widely accepted for low-level containment or field release in the study of biological detection, the bacteriophage MS2. While MS2 has been used for decades in the bio-defense research, development, testing, and evaluation communities in lieu of actual viral threat agents, MS2 is less than ideal for several reasons. It is not the same size as most of the recognized threat agents. It does not have the same capsid structure as many viruses of eukaryotes, and the size of the capsid is considerably smaller than many animal viruses. In particular, it is not similar in nearly every respect to any of the orthopoxviruses, a family that includes viral agents of concern. Poxviruses have a virion particle size 20-40 times longer and wider than MS2, has both enveloped and non-enveloped forms (whereas MS2 has only a single virion particle form), and has a doublestranded DNA genome (while the MS2 genome is singlestranded RNA).