The present disclosure relates to compositions and methods for investigating Zika virus (ZIKV) biology and pathogenicity. The present disclosure provides genetically stable viral vectors to produce functional RNA transcripts of ZIKV cDNAs. In particular, the present disclosure provides full-length infectious cDNAs as bacterial artificial chromosomes for spatiotemporally distinct and genetically divergent ZIKVs. The present disclosure also provides methods of generating a genetically engineered attenuated ZIKV using the genetically stable viral vectors described herein.