Influenza A virus NEP (NS2 protein) downregulates RNA synthesis of model template RNAs

The influenza A virus NEP (NS2) protein is an structural component of the viral particle. To investigate whether this protein has an effect on viral RNA synthesis, we examined the expression of an influenza A virus-like chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) RNA in cells synthesizing the four influenza A virus core proteins (nucleoprotein, PB1, PB2, and PA) and NEP from recombinant plasmids. Influenza A virus NEP inhibited drastically, and in a dose-dependent manner, the level of CAT expression mediated by the recombinant influenza A virus polymerase. This inhibitory effect was not observed in an analogous artificial system in which expression of a synthetic CAT RNA is mediated by the core proteins of an influenza B virus. This result ruled out the possibility that inhibition of reporter gene expression was due to a general toxic effect induced by NEP. Analysis of the virus-specific RNA species that accumulated in cells expressing the type A recombinant core proteins and NEP showed that there was an important reduction in the levels of minireplicon-derived vRNA, cRNA, and mRNA molecules. Taken together, the results obtained suggest a regulatory role for NEP during virus-specific RNA synthesis, and this finding is discussed regarding the biological implications for the virus life cycle.     

Expression of the M gene of vesicular stomatitis virus cloned in various vaccinia virus vectors.

Initial attempts to clone the matrix (M) gene of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in a vaccinia virus expression vector failed, apparently because the expressed M protein, and particularly a carboxy-terminus-distal two-thirds fragment, was lethal for the virus recombinant. Therefore, a transient eucaryotic expression system was used in which a cDNA clone of the VSV M protein mRNA was inserted into a region of plasmid pTF7 flanked by the promoter and terminator sequences for the T7 bacteriophage RNA polymerase. When CV-1 cells infected with recombinant vaccinia virus vTF1-6,2 expressing the T7 RNA polymerase were transfected with pTF7-M3, the cells produced considerable amounts of M protein reactive by Western blot (immunoblot) analysis with monoclonal antibodies directed to VSV M protein. Evidence for biological activity of the plasmid-expressed wild-type M protein was provided by marker rescue of the M gene temperature-sensitive mutant tsO23(III) at the restrictive temperature. Somewhat higher levels of M protein expression were obtained in CV-1 cells coinfected with a vaccinia virus-M gene recombinant under control of the T7 polymerase promoter along with T7 polymerase-expressing vaccinia virus vTF1-6,2.     

Influenza virus matrix protein is the major driving force in virus budding

To get insights into the role played by each of the influenza A virus polypeptides in morphogenesis and virus particle assembly, the generation of virus-like particles (VLPs) has been examined in COS-1 cell cultures expressing, from recombinant plasmids, different combinations of the viral structural proteins. The presence of VLPs was examined biochemically, following centrifugation of the supernatants collected from transfected cells through sucrose cushions and immunoblotting, and by electron-microscopic analysis. It is demonstrated that the matrix (M1) protein is the only viral component which is essential for VLP formation and that the viral ribonucleoproteins are not required for virus particle formation. It is also shown that the M1 protein, when expressed alone, assembles into virus-like budding particles, which are released in the culture medium, and that the recombinant M1 protein accumulates intracellularly, forming tubular structures. All these results are discussed with regard to the roles played by the virus polypeptides during virus assembly.     

Segment-specific noncoding sequences of the influenza virus genome RNA are involved in the specific competition between defective interfering RNA and its progenitor RNA segment at the virion assembly step.

The generation of influenza A virus defective interfering (DI) particles was studied by using an NS2 mutant which produces, in a single cycle of virus replication, a large amount of DI particles lacking the PA polymerase gene. The decrease in PA gene replication has been shown to occur primarily at the cRNA synthesis step, with preferential amplification of PA DI RNA species present in a marginal amount in the virus stock. In addition, at the assembly step the PA DI RNAs were preferentially incorporated into virions, resulting in selective reduction in the packaging of the PA gene into virions. Similarly, in cells dually infected with the NS2 mutant and wild-type viruses, packaging of the wild-type PA gene was also greatly suppressed. In contrast, incorporation of other RNA segments, i.e., the PB2 and NS genes, was not affected, suggesting that the PA DI RNAs competed only with the PA gene in a segment-specific manner. Experiments involving rescue of recombinant chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) RNA flanked by the noncoding regions of the PA (PA/CAT RNA) and PB2 (PB2/CAT RNA) genes into viral particles showed that only PA/CAT RNA was not rescued by infection with the NS2 mutant virus containing the PA DI RNAs. However, recombinant PA/CAT RNA in which either the 3' or 5' noncoding region was replaced with that of the PB2 gene was rescued by the NS2 mutant. These results suggest that the noncoding regions of the PA gene are responsible for the competition with PA DI RNA species at the virus assembly step and that coexistence of the both noncoding regions would be a prerequisite for this phenomenon. Decreased packaging of the progenitor RNA by the DI RNA, in addition to the suppression of cRNA synthesis, is likely involved in the production of DI particles.     

Rescue of influenza C virus from recombinant DNA

The rescue of influenza viruses by reverse genetics has been described only for the influenza A and B viruses. Based on a similar approach, we developed a reverse-genetics system that allows the production of influenza C viruses entirely from cloned cDNA. The complete sequences of the 3' and 5' noncoding regions of type C influenza virus C/Johannesburg/1/66 necessary for the cloning of the cDNA were determined for the seven genomic segments. Human embryonic kidney cells (293T) were transfected simultaneously with seven plasmids that direct the synthesis of each of the seven viral RNA segments of the C/JHB/1/66 virus under the control of the human RNA polymerase I promoter and with four plasmids encoding the viral nucleoprotein and the PB2, PB1, and P3 proteins of the viral polymerase complex. This strategy yielded between 10(3) and 10(4) PFU of virus per ml of supernatant at 8 to 10 days posttransfection. Additional viruses with substitutions introduced in the hemagglutinin-esterase-fusion protein were successfully produced by this method, and their growth phenotype was evaluated. This efficient system, which does not require helper virus infection, should be useful in viral mutagenesis studies and for generation of expression vectors from type C influenza virus.     

埃博拉病毒GP和VP40蛋白在哺乳动物细胞中的共表达及病毒样颗粒装配

目的：制备基因重组埃博拉病毒样颗粒,为疫苗研究及埃博拉病毒特异抗原、抗体检测提供基础。方法：根据埃博拉病毒扎伊尔株的GP和VP40蛋白氨基酸序列,以哺乳动物细胞基因表达密码子偏好性进行基因优化设计;化学合成GP和VP40基因片段并分别构建于表达质粒pcDNA3.1或同时构建到具有双表达单元的质粒pBudCE4.1;重组质粒经lipofectamine2000转染293FT细胞;以Western blot检测重组蛋白GP和VP40的表达;通过电镜观察病毒样颗粒。结果：构建的重组质粒经酶切鉴定及测序分析证实构建成功;Western blot结果显示,共转染分别表达GP和VP40的两个质粒或转染共表达两个蛋白的质粒都发现GP特异反应条带产生,且大小与预期相符,此外,转染共表达质粒产生的GP蛋白表达明显强于两个质粒共转染,并同时可检测到VP40的表达;电镜观察到典型的丝状的埃博拉病毒样颗粒。结论：在293FT细胞中基因优化的埃博拉病毒GP和VP40可有效表达并装配为病毒样颗粒,为进一步研究奠定了基础。     

Mokola virus glycoprotein and chimeric proteins can replace rabies virus glycoprotein in the rescue of infectious defective rabies virus particles.

A reverse genetics approach which allows the generation of infectious defective rabies virus (RV) particles entirely from plasmid-encoded genomes and proteins (K.-K. Conzelmann and M. Schnell, J. Virol. 68:713-719, 1994) was used to investigate the ability of a heterologous lyssavirus glycoprotein (G) and chimeric G constructs to function in the formation of infectious RV-like particles. Virions containing a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene (SDI-CAT) were generated in cells simultaneously expressing the genomic RNA analog, the RV N, P, M, and L proteins, and engineered G constructs from transfected plasmids. The infectivity of particles was determined by a CAT assay after passage to helper virus-infected cells. The heterologous G protein from Eth-16 virus (Mokola virus, lyssavirus serotype 3) as well as a construct in which the ectodomain of RV G was fused to the cytoplasmic and transmembrane domains of the Eth-16 virus G rescued infectious SDI-CAT particles. In contrast, a chimeric protein composed of the amino-terminal half of the Eth-16 virus G and the carboxy-terminal half of RV G failed to produce infectious particles. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to convert the antigenic site III of RV G to the corresponding sequence of Eth-16 G. This chimeric protein rescued infectious SDI-CAT particles as efficiently as RV G. Virions containing the chimeric protein were specifically neutralized by an anti-Eth-16 virus serum and escaped neutralization by a monoclonal antibody directed against RV antigenic site III. The results show that entire structural domains as well as short surface epitopes of lyssavirus G proteins may be exchanged without affecting the structure required to mediate infection of cells.     

Determination of influenza virus proteins required for genome replication.

An artificial vaccinia virus vector-driven replication system for influenza virus RNA has been developed. In this system, a synthetic NS-like gene is replicated and expressed by influenza virus proteins supplied through infection with vaccinia virus recombinant vectors. The minimum subset of influenza virus proteins needed for specific replication and expression of the viral ribonucleoprotein was found to be the three polymerase proteins (PB1, PB2, and PA) and the nucleoprotein.     

登革2型病毒PrM基因的重组甲病毒RNA介导的抗病毒作用的研究

将扩增的登革 2型病毒株PrM基因导入pSFV载体的SP6启动子下游 ,筛选出含该基因正、反向插入的重组质粒DNA。用SpeI酶分别将重组的和辅助的质粒DNA线性化 ,并将其体外转录成 5′末端含帽子结构的RNA。再将这两种RNA共转染BHK细胞。然后将转染的宿主细胞用登革 2型病毒株攻击 ,并分别观察含正、反义PrM基因的重组甲病毒RNA介导的抗病毒效果。通过碱基序列测定 ,筛选出含PrM基因正、反向插入的pSFV PrM重组质粒。并获得了经重组RNA与辅助RNA共转染细胞而产生的重组病毒颗粒。含有反义PrM基因的重组病毒RNA ,在宿主细胞中具有抗登革 2型病毒复制的作用 ,而且强于含正义PrM基因的重组病毒RNA。     

Rescue of Influenza A Virus from Recombinant DNA

We have rescued influenza A virus by transfection of 12 plasmids into Vero cells. The eight individual negative-sense genomic viral RNAs were transcribed from plasmids containing human RNA polymerase I promoter and hepatitis delta virus ribozyme sequences. The three influenza virus polymerase proteins and the nucleoprotein were expressed from protein expression plasmids. This plasmid-based reverse genetics technique facilitates the generation of recombinant influenza viruses containing specific mutations in their genes.     

Comparative study of the morphology and antigenic properties of recombinant analogs of a Marburg virus nucleoprotein]

The full-length gene for Marburg virus (MV) nucleoprotein (NP) was cloned in prokaryotic pQE32 under the control of the T5 promoter and in eukaryotic pTM1 under the control of the promoter for T7 RNA polymerase. Recombinant NP was synthesized in Escherichia coli and in human kidney cell line 293 cotransfected with recombinant vaccinia virus vTF7-3 expressing T7 RNA polymerase. On evidence of electron microscopy with immune detection, recombinant NP formed tubules of two types in E. coli and of a single type in cell line 293. ELISA and immunoblotting with polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies revealed common antigenic determinants in recombinant NP and natural MV NP.     

人H5N1流感病毒血凝素蛋白DNA疫苗的构建及其免疫原性研究

将我国分离的首株人H5N1亚型禽流感病毒A/Anhui/1/2005作为研究对象,扩增其HA和HA1基因片段并克隆至真核表达载体pStar,构建成真核表达质粒。通过Western blot和间接免疫荧光检测方法确认,构建的重组质粒在真核细胞中成功地表达了目的蛋白HA和HA1。将重组质粒免疫BALB/c小鼠,检测免疫后外周血中HA/HA1特异性抗体的效价,并比较HA和HA1的免疫原性。结果表明,重组质粒免疫后成功地诱导了体液免疫反应,且二者的血清抗体效价无显著性差异。