To evaluate the stability of the recombinant viruses in live animals, total RNAs were extracted from the liver of rZHDNSs-hRLuc-or rZHDNSs-GFP-infected Ifnar1 2/2 mice at 34 h postinfection and RT-PCR assays were performed using primer pairs flanking the hRLuc or GFP reporter gene. The amplification product sizes were those expected from the structure of pPolI-SZHDNSs-hRLuc and pPolI-SZHDNSs-GFP plasmids (data not shown). No amplification products with smaller sizes were observed, suggesting that the recombinant viruses maintained their own genomic stability not only in cultured cells, but also during in vivo infection. Furthermore, to examine the reporter expression stability after in vivo infection, the recombinant rZHDNSs-GFP was harvested from the liver of an infected Ifnar1 2/2 mouse at 34 h post-infection and then used to infect Vero E6 cells at a MOI of 1. The percentage of cells positive for the N viral protein that were also GFP-positive was measured. The percentage of N-positive, GFP-positive cells was almost identical to that of the initial viral stock (84%61.90% vs. 85%67.34%). Altogether, these results suggest that the recombinant viruses were stable for the time of infection in live mice.