The sequence necessary for the infectivity of hop stunt viroid cDNA clones

Summary Recombinant plasmids carrying more than two units of the hop stunt viroid (HSV) cDNA sequence linked in tandem were highly infectious. On the other hand, those carrying one unit were not. To determine the length of the HSV cDNA sequence necessary for the infectivity, we constructed series of plasmids carrying more than one but less than two units of the HSV sequence and investigated their infectivities. The results showed that cDNA clones were infectious if about 60 nucleotides of the internal part of the HSV sequence (region A) were undeleted and remained with the same arrangement as in the infectious two-unit clone. The region A can be folded into a stable secondary structure. Viroid replication is thought to involve a site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage of plus strand RNA multimers produced by a rolling circle mechanism to yield unit length molecules. Our results suggest that the region A contains the sequence or structure recognized by the putative endonuclease.     

Double-stranded cDNAs of hop stunt viroid are infectious

Restriction fragments composed of only hop stunt viroid (HSV) cDNA were prepared from recombinant clone pHS-P4P, which carries four tandemly repeated HSV cDNAs, and inoculated into cucumber cotyledons. The results showed that double-stranded cDNAs consisting of 1 to 3 units of HSV sequences were infectious. In cucumber plants inoculated with these double-stranded cDNAs, infectious RNA molecules indistinguishable from authentic HSV were propagated.     

Cleavage of the Feline Calicivirus Capsid Precursor Is Mediated by a Virus-Encoded Proteinase

Feline calicivirus (FCV), a member of the Caliciviridae, produces its major structural protein as a precursor polyprotein from a subgenomic-sized mRNA. In this study, we show that the proteinase responsible for processing this precursor into the mature capsid protein is encoded by the viral genome at the 3′-terminal portion of open reading frame 1 (ORF1). Protein expression studies of either the entire or partial ORF1 indicate that the proteinase is active when expressed either in in vitro translation or in bacterial cells. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to characterize the proteinase Glu-Ala cleavage site in the capsid precursor, utilizing an in vitro cleavage assay in which mutant precursor proteins translated from cDNA clones were used as substrates for trans cleavage by the proteinase. In general, amino acid substitutions in the P1 position (Glu) of the cleavage site were less well tolerated by the proteinase than those in the P1′ position (Ala). The precursor cleavage site mutations were introduced into an infectious cDNA clone of the FCV genome, and transfection of RNA derived from these clones into feline kidney cells showed that efficient cleavage of the capsid precursor by the virus-encoded proteinase is a critical determinant in the growth of the virus.     

A Novel Strategy To Develop a Robust Infectious Hepatitis C Virus Cell Culture System Directly from a Clinical Isolate

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause of chronic liver diseases. Progress in the HCV field was greatly enhanced by constructing infectious cDNA clone of JFH-1. Since then, JFH-1-based intra- and intergenotypic recombinants have been developed, and this permitted the study of vaccines and antiviral inhibitors for all genotypes. Recently, highly efficient HCV culture systems have been established by using consensus sequence-based clones. We developed a novel strategy to construct infectious HCV cDNA clone by combining functional screening of sequences directly from a genotype 2a clinical isolate (PR63) and cell culture adaptation. Using JFH-1 cDNA as the starting backbone, we sequentially replaced the JFH-1 fragments with a sequence from the pools of PR63 sequences. Through engineering adaptive mutations that improve HCV infectivity, we finally established a full-length cell culture-derived infectious clone of PR63, named PR63cc, that could efficiently produce virus particles in Huh7-derived cells, with peak titers of 1.6 × 10⁵ focus-forming units/ml. The PR63cc could be neutralized by an anti-E2 antibody and inhibited by antiviral agents but appeared more resistant to an NS5A inhibitor than JFH-1. In summary, we developed a new approach to construct an infectious HCV cDNA clone that can produce viruses efficiently in cell culture. This approach could be applied to other viral isolates, with potential implications for individualized treatments of HCV patients.     

登革病毒2型全长cDNA感染性转录体的构建和鉴定

为构建登革病毒感染性克隆, 针对登革病毒2型基因组全长cDNA的体外转录方法及感染性转录体进行研究。采用长链RT-PCR技术, 扩增DEN2 NGC株全长基因组cDNA, 以之为模板, 用SP6 RNA聚合酶系统制备体外转录RNA转录体, 分别经乳鼠脑内接种及电穿孔转染BHK-21细胞, 观察其感染效应。并从受染鼠脑和病变细胞中提取总RNA, 进行RT-PCR扩增、克隆测序以及电镜观察。结果发现, 从感染鼠脑和细胞中经RT-PCR均可扩增出病毒特异的基因片段, 大小与预期一致; 并从乳鼠脑组织和BHK-21细胞中观察到恢复病毒颗粒。上述结果表明本文成功构建的DEN2 NGC株病毒全长cDNA的体外转录体具有感染性, 乳鼠脑内接种途径与电穿孔转染细胞一样可成为体外转录体感染宿主细胞、获得恢复病毒的方法。     

Replication of in vitro constructed viroid mutants: location of the pathogenicity-modulating domain of citrus exocortis viroid

Sequence variants from field isolates of citrus exocortis viroid (CEV) that cause either mild or severe symptoms on tomato plants have previously been classified into two groups, A and B. These groups differ primarily in two domains, P_L and P_R, of the proposed native structure. Infectivity studies with full-length cDNA clones of variants from each class have now directly confirmed the original correlation between Class A sequences and the severe phenotype and between Class B sequences and the mild phenotype. Direct evidence for this correlation could only be obtained by using individual sequence variants since field isolates of CEV have been shown to contain a mixture of RNA species. The construction and infectivity of chimaeric cDNA clones derived from mild and severe sequence variants of CEV has demonstrated that novel, infectious viroid molecules can be generated in vitro, and that P_L is the pathogenicity-modulating domain. The role of the P_R domain is not known but infectivity experiments with one chimaeric cDNA clone suggest that it may influence the efficiency of the infection or replication process of the viroid in the plant.     

Spontaneous substitutions in the vicinity of the V3 analog affect cell tropism and pathogenicity of simian immunodeficiency virus.

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) exists within tissues of infected macaques as a mixture of diverse genotypes. The goal of this study was to investigate the biologic significance of this variation in terms of cellular tropism and pathogenicity. PCR was used to amplify and clone 3'-half genomes from the spleen of an immunodeficiency SIV-infected pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina). Eight infectious clones were generated by ligation of respective 3' clones into a related SIVsm 5' clone, and virus stocks were generated by transient transfection. Four of these viruses were infectious for macaque peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) or monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM). Three viruses with distinct tropism for macaque PBMC or MDM were tested for in vivo infectivity and pathogenicity. The ability of these three viruses to infect PBMC and macrophages correlated with differences in infectivity and pathogenicity. Thus, a virus that was infectious for both PBMC and MDM was highly infectious for macaques and induced AIDS in half of the inoculated animals. In contrast, virus that was less infectious for PBMC and not infectious for MDM induced only transient viremia. Finally, a virus that was not infectious for either primary cell type did not infect macaques. Chimeric clones exchanging portions of the envelope gene of the 62A and smH4 molecular clones and a series of point mutants were used to map the determinant of tropism to a 60-amino-acid region of gp120 encompassing the V3 analog of SIV. Naturally occurring mutations within this region were critical for determining tropism and, as a result, pathogenicity of these SIVsm clones.     

Construction and Characterization of Highly Infectious Full-Length Molecular Clones of a HIV-1 CRF07_BC Isolate from Xinjiang,China

Among the various subtypes of the M group of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), clade CRF07_BC is the most prevalent in China. To date, no strong replicable CRF07_BC infectious clone has been constructed. Here we report on the construction and characterization of highly replicable infectious molecular clones from the isolate XJDC6291 of this HIV-1 subtype. Four full-length clones pXJDC2-7, pXJDC3-7, pXJDC2-6 and pXJDC3-6 were successfully produced, but only pXJDC2-7 presented detectable infectivity and replication capability. To improve the replication capability of pXJDC2-7, a 4.8 kb region spanning from the pol Integrase to nef gene of the clone was replaced by PCR products of the corresponding fragments from the original isolate XJDC6291, which produced two clones pXJDC13 and pXJDC17 that exhibited strong replication capability. The viral stocks obtained by pXJDC-13 and pXJDC-17 transfection into 293T cells replicated efficiently in human PBMCs, human primary CD4⁺ T cells and displayed CCR5 tropism. Sequence alignment between pXJDC13, pXJDC17 and pXJDC2-7 suggested that polymorphisms in the V1V2 region may influence infectivity, and reverse genetic experiment showed that V1V2 polymorphisms may influence the infectivity of the clones but did not affect the replication capability at a significant level. pXJDC13 and pXJDC17 displayed strong replication capability and are the first full-length infectious clones of HIV-1 CRF07_BC clade in the world. The availability of CRF07_BC infectious clones provides a useful tool for a wide range of studies, including antiretroviral drug and vaccine research as related to this HIV subtype.