Taming influenza viruses

Plasmid-based reverse genetics systems allow the artificial generation of viruses with cloned cDNA-derived genomes. Since the establishment of such systems for influenza virus, numerous attempts have been made to tame this pathogenic agent. In particular, several types of viruses expressing foreign genes have been generated and used to further our knowledge of influenza virus replication and pathogenicity and to develop novel influenza vaccines. Here, we review these achievements and discuss future perspectives.