Screening and in vitro antiviral assessment of small molecules against fluorescent protein-expressing Bunyamwera virus in a cell-based assay using high-content imaging

Many species of the order Bunyavirales contain potentially fatal viruses that lack effective medical countermeasures and are therefore collectively a major public health threat. Here, we describe a cell-based assay using Bunyamwera virus (BUNV)-mCherry to identify and characterize new antiviral molecules against bunyaviruses. BUNV is the type species for the genus Orthobunyavirus and has been reported to cause mild symptoms in humans, such as fever, joint pain, and rash. One major benefit of using our fluorescence-based assay over classical CPE-based assays is the fact that the antiviral effect of the tested compounds and their effect on the cell viability can be determined within the same assay well. For that reason, this type of assay could significantly advance our preclinical efforts towards finding new antiviral molecules against bunyaviruses.