Described is a simple plasma-based mammalian expression system that uses the RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP) enzyme systems' activity for expression of recombinant proteins or RNA from viral minigenomes and rescue of recombinant viruses from cDNAs encoding entire genome(s) of negative stranded RNA viruses for use in synthesizing recombinant viruses and developing vaccines. This system will be used for expression of recombinant proteins, therapeutic RNA molecules including anti-sense and/or selecting interfering RNA and Ribozymes. This system can also be used for gene therapy and producing recombinant viruses for production of new vaccines.
