from Yoshiyuki Nagai, Akira Takakura, Takashi Irie, Yoshikazu Yonemitsu and Bin Gotoh writing in The Biology of Paramyxoviruses:
Sendai virus (SeV) is not just an old mouse pathogen. SeV has been an irreplaceable tool in basic research to understand paramyxovirus replication and pathogenesis. SeV has further made an entrance into the scene of technological innovation in delivering foreign genes of interest to target cells and tissues. In this context, there are two different approaches. One is to make good use of the fusogenic capacity of inactivated SeV virions and the other is to generate a non-genotoxic (non-integrating) cytoplasmic RNA vector by reverse genetics. Here, we review the long history of SeV research focusing on its contribution to basic virology and technological development. We also highlight some old discoveries that have mostly vanished from recent textbooks but provided crucial momentum to the development of the current concepts and technologies.
Further reading: The Biology of Paramyxoviruses