Purification of RNA and RNA-protein complexes by an R17 coat protein affinity method.

We describe an affinity chromatography method to isolate specific RNAs and RNA-protein complexes formed in vivo or in vitro. It exploits the highly selective binding of the coat protein of bacteriophage R17 to a short hairpin in its genomic RNA. RNA containing that hairpin binds to coat protein that has been covalently bound to a solid support. Bound RNA-protein complexes can be eluted with excess R17 recognition sites. Using purified RNA, we demonstrate that binding to immobilized coat protein is highly specific and enables one to separate an RNA of interest from a large excess of other RNAs in a single step. Surprisingly, binding of an RNA containing non-R17 sequences to the support requires two recognition sites in tandem; a single site is insufficient. We determine optimal conditions for purification of specific RNAs by comparing specific binding (retention of RNAs with recognition sites) to non-specific binding (retention of RNAs without recognition sites) over a range of experimental conditions. These results suggest that binding of immobilized coat protein to RNAs containing two sites is cooperative. We illustrate the potential utility of the approach in purifying RNA-protein complexes by demonstrating that a U1 snRNP formed in vivo on an RNA containing tandem recognition sites is selectively retained by the coat protein support.     

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。     

Large-scale production of dsRNA and siRNA pools for RNA interference utilizing bacteriophage phi6 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase

The discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized biological research and has a huge potential for therapy. Since small double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) are required for various RNAi applications, there is a need for cost-effective methods for producing large quantities of high-quality dsRNA. We present two novel, flexible virus-based systems for the efficient production of dsRNA: (1) an in vitro system utilizing the combination of T7 RNA polymerase and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) of bacteriophage 6 to generate dsRNA molecules of practically unlimited length, and (2) an in vivo RNA replication system based on carrier state bacterial cells containing the 6 polymerase complex to produce virtually unlimited amounts of dsRNA of up to 4.0 kb. We show that pools of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) derived from dsRNA produced by these systems significantly decreased the expression of a transgene (eGFP) in HeLa cells and blocked endogenous pro-apoptotic BAX expression and subsequent cell death in cultured sympathetic neurons.