杆状病毒几丁质酶基因结构与功能的研究进展*

杆状病毒几丁质酶基因是杆状病毒的非必需基因 ,是高度保守的基因。该基因在杆状病毒复制晚期表达产生几丁质酶 ,该酶N端具信号肽 ,中部是酶的活性区 ,C端是酶的内质网结合区。杆状病毒几丁质酶同时具有内切和外切几丁质酶活性 ,主要功能是水解昆虫体内的组成型几丁质。杆状病毒几丁质酶对于虫体液化是必需的 ,同时它还是原组织蛋白酶 (pro V Cath)的分子伴侣 ,并与病毒侵染机制相关联。杆状病毒的几丁质酶基因与细菌的几丁质酶基因可能源于共同的祖先。     

杆状病毒几丁质酶基因结构与功能的研究进展

杆状病毒几丁质酶基因是杆状病毒的非必需基因,是高度保守的基因。该基因在杆状病毒复制晚期表达产生几丁质酶,该酶N端具信号肽,中部是酶的活性区,C端是酶的内质网结合区。杆状病毒几丁质酶同时具有内切和外切几丁质酶活性,主要功能是水解昆虫体内的组成型几丁质。杆状病毒几丁质酶对于虫体液化是必需的,同时它还是原组织蛋白酶(pro-V-Cath)的分子伴侣,并与病毒侵染机制相关联。杆状病毒的几丁质酶基因与细菌的几丁质酶基因可能源于共同的祖先。     

重组病毒杀虫剂应用研究进展

应用分子生物学技术可以将昆虫特异性的毒素基因、某些酶基因等外源基因插入昆虫病毒基因组,或通过改造昆虫病毒基因组等方法构建重组病毒杀虫剂,提高杀虫效果。温室及田间释放实验证实,重组病毒杀虫剂可以显著提高现场防治效果。连续多代抗性筛选实验表明,宿主被诱导产生对重组病毒杀虫剂抗性的速度低于野生型病毒杀虫剂。采用在剂型中添加光增白剂等保护剂、在基因组中插入具有增效作用的基因、应用病毒增强蛋白等技术可以提高重组病毒杀虫效果。随着基因工程技术的发展和安全性研究的深入,以重组杆状病毒为主的重组昆虫病毒杀虫剂的应用研究正面临着突破。     

杆状病毒增效因子及其增效机理

杆状病毒是一类双链环状DNA病毒,具有宿主特异性强和环境兼容性好等特点。作为微生物杀虫剂,杆状病毒在农业可持续发展中应将发挥更加重要的作用。但是,杆状病毒杀虫剂自身的不足,如杀虫活性低和杀虫速度慢等,严重制约了其推广应用。一些增效因子能够改善杆状病毒的杀虫活性或杀虫速度。本文综述了杆状病毒增效蛋白、昆虫痘病毒纺锤体蛋白和荧光增白剂等7种对杆状病毒具有增效活性的增效因子的特性,并对其增效机理进行了逐个分析,旨在为高效病毒杀虫剂的研发以及病毒杀虫剂的推广应用提供借鉴和帮助。     

杆状病毒表达系统——有效的VLP构建工具

杆状病毒表达系统是以杆状病毒为外源基因载体,昆虫细胞或活体昆虫为受体的真核表达系统。相对于其他表达系统,杆状病毒表达系统具有特殊的优势:杆状病毒基因组作为表达载体可以容纳更多外源基因;杆状病毒极晚期启动子能有效调控外源蛋白的表达;昆虫细胞作为受体能够对外源蛋白进行加工修饰;杆状病毒通常只感染节肢动物,不会对人畜构成危害。因此,该系统越来越受到人们的重视,并已应用于亚单位疫苗的研发与生产,特别其对于构建病毒样颗粒,即由一种或多种病毒结构蛋白自行装配而成且不含病毒基因组的蛋白颗粒,具有不可比拟的优势。对此做详细评述并展望病毒样颗粒疫苗的发展趋势。     

HaSNPV几丁质酶基因在大肠杆菌和昆虫细胞中的表达及其产物对Bt杀虫剂的增效作用

为了探索杆状病毒几丁质酶对微生物杀虫剂的增效作用及其利用途径 ,分别在大肠杆菌和昆虫细胞中表达棉铃虫单粒包埋型核型多角体病毒 (HaSNPV)几丁质酶 .用PCR方法扩增出不含N端信号肽编码序列的几丁质酶基因片段 ,并分别克隆至原核表达载体pET2 8a和重组到杆状病毒BactoBac表达系统 ,在大肠杆菌 (E .coli)BL2 1和粉纹夜蛾 (Trichoplusiani)细胞系Tn 5B1 4中分别进行了表达 .在大肠杆菌中表达量约占细菌总蛋白 15 % ,在昆虫细胞中表达量约占细胞总蛋白10 % .将含有几丁质酶的大肠杆菌和昆虫细胞表达产物添加到苏云金杆菌 (Bt)菌液中一起喂食 2龄家蚕 .结果显示 ,HaSNPV几丁质酶基因的 2种表达产物和Bt杀虫剂的混合物使处理的家蚕的致死时间较对照处理均明显缩短 .昆虫细胞和大肠杆菌表达产物与Bt混合物处理的LT50 分别从 93 5h和 95 1h缩短到 5 6 2h及 6 7 2h ,并且供试家蚕的生长速度明显缓慢 .研究结果表明 ,重组的HaSNPV几丁质酶有望作为Bt杀虫剂的增效剂     

昆虫几丁质酶基因的分子特性概述

昆虫几丁质酶是分解昆虫体壁和中肠围食膜几丁质的重要酶类。已从烟草天蛾、家蚕等多种昆虫中分离到几丁质酶的cDNA和DNA序列。昆虫几丁质酶基因有着相似的分子特性,这些特性可为构建杀虫工程菌及转几丁质酶基因植物奠定基础。作者结合自己在该领域的工作,着重就昆虫几丁质酶基因结构特点,基因的拷贝数,基因在体内的时空表达以及异源表达及活性测定等多个方面的研究方法和研究进展进行了较为全面地介绍。     

杆状病毒侵染的分子基础*

相状病毒是昆虫的专一性寄生病毒,可作为一种有效的生物杀虫剂。杆状病毒侵染寄主表现在其基因的功能上。侵染是一个复杂的过程,包括许多不同基因的表达、调控等,以苜蓿丫纹夜蛾核多角体病毒（Autographa califormica mucleopolyhedrovirus,AcMNPV）为例,从分子水平上概述了与杆状病毒侵染有关的基因及蛋白质的结构特性与功能,为进一步了解杆状病毒侵染寄主的机制,从而有效的改良杆状病毒,扩大杀虫谱,提高其杀虫效果提供参考。     

舞毒蛾几丁质酶基因的真核表达与重组病毒的获得

几丁质是昆虫外骨骼和围食膜的重要组成部分,鉴于几丁质酶在昆虫生长发育过程中发挥着举足轻重的作用,应用昆虫几丁质酶为探索新的生物防治害虫的方法提供了途径。本文分别根据苜蓿银纹夜蛾Autographa californica核型多角体病毒多角体蛋白基因序列和编码舞毒蛾Lymantria disparⅠ型几丁质酶基因的开放阅读框设计引物,使用聚合酶链反应扩增出以上两个基因,全长分别为783 bp和1 737 bp。构建重组质粒pFastBac-LdCht和pFastBac-AcPH-LdCht,转化大肠杆菌DH10Bac后获得重组穿梭载体,通过脂质体介导转染Sf9细胞产生重组杆状病毒AcMNPV-AcPH--LdCht和AcMNPV-LdCht,分别用于表达蛋白和获得重组病毒。细胞成功表达出有活性的舞毒蛾几丁质酶,并在棉铃虫体内扩增得到重组病毒。研究为深入了解昆虫几丁质酶性质提供依据,并为应用重组病毒奠定基础。     

甜菜夜蛾几丁质脱乙酰酶SeCDA7的表达与结合活性分析

几丁质脱乙酰酶(Chitin deacetylase,CDA)是昆虫几丁质代谢酶系中的重要组分,是害虫防治的重要靶标。通过RT-PCR技术克隆得到编码甜菜夜蛾几丁质脱乙酰酶secda7基因(Gen Bank登录号为MG604929),该基因长1 431 bp,包含开放阅读框长1 134 bp,SeCDA7蛋白的预测分子量分别为43.156 k D。结构域分析显示,SeCDA7具有一个多聚糖乙酰基转移酶催化区,属于第Ⅴ类CDA蛋白。分别构建了原核和真核重组表达载体,利用大肠杆菌和Bac-to-Bac昆虫杆状病毒表达系统转染Sf9昆虫细胞,成功表达了SeCDA7蛋白,纯化SeCDA7蛋白并分析几丁质结合活性,结果表明SeCDA7蛋白具有几丁质结合活性;荧光定量PCR结果显示secda7基因主要在中肠组织表达。本研究实现了甜菜夜蛾几丁质脱乙酰酶基因secda7的外源表达,并鉴定出SeCDA7蛋白具有几丁质结合活性,为深入探究甜菜夜蛾几丁质脱乙酰酶的生理功能提供了理论依据。     

与宿主昆虫液化相关的杆状病毒基因及其蛋白

昆虫被杆状病毒感染后会发生液化现象,这有利于病毒向周围环境扩散。目前在杆状病毒苜蓿银纹夜蛾核型多角体病毒NPV和GV中,发现与昆虫宿主液化相关的基因有组织蛋白酶基因V-cath基因和几丁质酶基因。V-cath基因表达产物在苜蓿银纹夜蛾多角体病毒(AcMNPV)中能特异性降解昆虫细胞内的肌动蛋白。几丁质酶不仅参与了虫体体表面几丁质的降解,同时还参与V-CATH蛋白前体的加工过程,起分子伴侣的作用。对家蚕核型多角体病毒(BmNPV)的研究表明其FP25K基因表达产物通过影响组织蛋白酶的释放与分泌而参与虫体液化。简要综述了此3种基因及其表达产物的结构、功能与特性,并讨论了它们在生产上的应用前景。     

miRNA调控昆虫与病毒互作的研究进展

miRNA是一类重要的非编码小分子RNA,可在转录后水平调控基因表达,参与并调控机体的生长发育、细胞分化、细胞凋亡、抗病毒、激素分泌、神经系统等重要生物过程。本文介绍了miRNA的合成途径及其生物学功能,并重点阐述miRNA在昆虫宿主与病毒互作中的调控作用:通过mRNA剪切或抑制靶标蛋白的翻译负调控靶标基因,实现基因沉默,调控约50%的蛋白质编码基因的表达,许多miRNA已被发现在人体和植物中参与调控病毒的复制侵染,因此也有可能控制害虫对病毒抗性的产生,恢复病毒对害虫的防控作用。最近有研究将害虫特异的miRNA转入植物,干扰昆虫蜕皮过程导致幼虫的死亡,作为Bt转基因作物的替代,成为抗虫基因工程的新选择。研究miRNA在昆虫对病毒抗性产生中的作用,将为昆虫抗病毒机制的研究提供新的思路,为害虫生物防治措施的应用及改进提供理论参考。     

杆状病毒DNA聚合酶基因的研究概况

杆状病毒DNA聚合酶基因属于杆状病毒早期基因,是杆状病毒复制的必需基因。它编码病毒诱导的DNA聚合酶,能与其它复制因子一起与杆状病毒DNA的同源区和非同源区的顺式作用元件相互作用起始DNA复制。此基因作为杆状病毒系统发育分类的依据,较之包涵体蛋白、egt基因有更大的优势。     

A New theraphosid Spider Toxin Causes Early Insect Cell Death by Necrosis When Expressed In Vitro during Recombinant Baculovirus Infection

Baculoviruses are the most studied insect viruses in the world and are used for biological control of agricultural and forest insect pests. They are also used as versatile vectors for expression of heterologous proteins. One of the major problems of their use as biopesticides is their slow speed to kill insects. Thus, to address this shortcoming, insect-specific neurotoxins from arachnids have been introduced into the baculovirus genome solely aiming to improve its virulence. In this work, an insecticide-like toxin gene was obtained from a cDNA derived from the venom glands of the theraphosid spider Brachypelma albiceps. The mature form of the peptide toxin (called Ba3) has a high content of basic amino acid residues, potential for three possible disulfide bonds, and a predicted three-stranded β-sheetDifferent constructions of the gene were engineered for recombinant baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nuclepolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) expression. Five different forms of Ba3 were assessed; (1) the full-length sequence, (2) the pro-peptide and mature region, (3) only the mature region, and the mature region fused to an (4) insect or a (5) virus-derived signal peptide were inserted separately into the genome of the baculovirus. All the recombinant viruses induced cell death by necrosis earlier in infection relative to a control virus lacking the toxin gene. However, the recombinant virus containing the mature portion of the toxin gene induced a faster cell death than the other recombinants. We found that the toxin construct with the signal peptide and/or pro-peptide regions delayed the necrosis phenotype. When infected cells were subjected to ultrastructural analysis, the cells showed loss of plasma membrane integrity and structural changes in mitochondria before death. Our results suggest this use of baculovirus is a potential tool to help understand or to identify the effect of insect-specific toxic peptides when produced during infection of insect cells.     

Increased baculovirus susceptibility of armyworm larvae feeding on transgenic rice plants expressing an entomopoxvirus gene.

We have introduced an entomopoxvirus gene encoding a virus enhancing factor (EF) into rice, which resulted in high-level accumulation of the EF in the transgenic plants. The introduced gene was stably inherited in the progeny of the primary transformants, as shown by analysis of their genomic DNA. Bioassays for insect susceptibility to baculovirus infection showed that armyworm larvae feeding on the transgenic rice had increased susceptibility to a Nucleopolyhedrovirus. Thus, introduction of the EF gene into plants can be used as a strategy to increase the effectiveness of baculoviruses in insect pest management.     

Insect resistance of transgenic tobacco expressing an insect chitinase gene

Chitinase expression in the insect gut normally occurs only during moulting, where the chitin of the peritrophic membrane is presumably degraded. Thus, insects feeding on plants that constitutively express an insect chitinase gene might be adversely affected, owing to an inappropriately timed exposure to chitinase. This hypothesis was tested by introducing a cDNA encoding a tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) chitinase (EC 3.2.1.14) into tobacco via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. A truncated but enzymatically active chitinase was present in plants expressing the gene. Segregating progeny of high-expressing plants were compared for their ability to support growth of tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens) larvae and for feeding damage. Both parameters were significantly reduced when budworms fed on transgenic tobacco plants expressing high levels of the chitinase gene. In contrast, hornworm larvae showed no significant growth reduction when fed on the chitinase-expressing transgenics. However, both budworm and hornworm larvae, when fed on chitinase-expressing transgenic plants coated with sublethal concentrations of a Bacillus thuringiensis toxin, were significantly stunted relative to larvae fed on toxin-treated non-transgenic controls. Foliar damage was also reduced. Plants expressing an insect chitinase gene may have agronomic potential for insect control     

Characterization of a 46 kda insect chitinase from transgenic tobacco

A 46 kDa Manduca sexta (tobacco hornworm) chitinase was isolated from leaves of transgenic tobacco plants containing a recombinant insect chitinase cDNA, characterized, and tested for insecticidal activity. The enzyme was purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation, Q-Sepharose anion-exchange chromatography and mono-S cation-exchange chromatography. Although the gene for the chitinase encoded the 85 kDa full-length chitinase as previously reported by Kramer et al. [Insect Biochem. Molec. Biol. 23, 691–701 (1993)], the enzyme is produced in tobacco as a 46 kDa protein that is approximately four-fold less active than the 85 kDa chitinase. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the 46 kDa chitinase is identical to that of the 85 kDa chitinase. The former enzyme is not glycosylated, whereas the latter contains approximately 25% carbohydrate. The pH and temperature optima of the 46 kDa chitinaseare similar to those of the 85 kDa chitinase. The former enzyme is more basic than the latter. The 46 kDa chitinase likely consists of the N-terminal catalytic domain of the 85 kDa chitinase and lacks the C-terminal domain that contains several potential sites for glycosylation. The 46 kDa chitinase is expressed in a number of plant organs, including leaves, flowers, stems and roots. Enzyme levels are higher in leaves and flowers than in stems and roots, and leaves from the middle portion of the plant have more chitinase than leaves from the top and bottom portions. Little or no enzyme is secreted outside of the plant cells because it remains in the intracellular space, even though its transit sequence is processed. When fed at a 2% dietary level, the 46 kDa chitinase caused 100% larval mortality of the merchant grain beetle, Oryzaephilis mercator. The results of this study support the hypothesis that insect chitinase is a biopesticidal protein for insect pests feeding on insect chitinase gene-containing transgenic plants.     

AcMNPV as a model for baculovirus DNA replication

Baculoviruses were first identified as insect-specific pathogens, and it was this specificity that lead to their use as safe, target specific biological pesticides. For the past 30 years, AcMNPV has served as the subject of intense basic molecular research into the baculovirus infectious cycle including the interaction of the virus with a continuous insect cell line derived from Spodoptera frugiperda. The studies on baculoviruese have led to an in-depth understanding of the physical organization of the viral genomes including many complete genomic sequences, the time course of gene expression, and the application of this basic research to the use of baculoviruses not only as insecticides, but also as a universal eukaryotic protein expression system, and a potential vector in gene therapy. A great deal has also been discovered about the viral genes required for the replication of the baculovirus genome, while much remains to be learned about the mechanism of viral DNA replication. This report outlines the current knowledge of the factors involved in baculovirus DNA replication, using data on AcMNPV as a model for most members of the Baculoviridae.     

Interaction of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus cathepsin protease progenitor (proV-CATH) with insect baculovirus chitinase as a mechanism for proV-CATH cellular retention

The insect baculovirus chitinase (CHIA) and cathepsin protease (V-CATH) enzymes cause terminal host insect liquefaction, enhancing the dissemination of progeny virions away from the host cadavers. Regulated and delayed cellular release of these host tissue-degrading enzymes ensures that liquefaction starts only after optimal viral replication has occurred. Baculoviral CHIA remains intracellular due to its C-terminal KDEL endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retention motif. However, the mechanism for cellular retention of the inactive V-CATH progenitor (proV-CATH) has not yet been determined. Signal peptide cleavage occurs upon cotranslational ER import of the v-cath-expressed protein, and ER-resident CHIA is needed for the folding of proV-CATH. Although this implies that CHIA and proV-CATH bind each other in the ER, the putative CHIA-proV-CATH interaction has not been experimentally verified. We demonstrate that the amino-terminal 22 amino acids (aa) of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) preproV-CATH are responsible for the entry of proV-CATH into the ER. Furthermore, the CHIA-green fluorescent protein (GFP) and proV-CATH-red fluorescent protein (RFP) fusion proteins colocalize in the ER. Using monomeric RFP (mRFP)-based bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC), we determined that CHIA and proV-CATH interact directly with each other in the ER during virus replication. Moreover, reciprocal Ni/His pulldowns of His-tagged proteins confirmed the CHIA-proV-CATH interaction biochemically. The reciprocal copurification of CHIA and proV-CATH suggests a specific CHIA-proV-CATH interaction and corroborates our BiFC data. Deletion of the CHIA KDEL motif allowed for premature CHIA secretion from cells, and proV-CATH was similarly prematurely secreted from cells along with ΔKDEL-CHIA. These data suggest that CHIA and proV-CATH interact directly with each other and that this interaction aids the cellular retention of proV-CATH.