冠状病毒载体研究进展

随着定向重组技术和反向遗传学系统的发展,利用冠状病毒独特的转录机制表达外源基因成为可能。目前已经开发出了两类基于冠状病毒的表达载体,即辅助病毒依赖的表达载体系统和单基因组表达载体系统。通过对冠状病毒感染性cDNA进行改造可以获得外源基因的高效(50μg/106细胞)、稳定(30代)表达。此外,冠状病毒载体以下几个特征使其成为非常具有吸引力的载体:①通过删除非结构基因、组特异性基因可以将冠状病毒转化为无毒力的病毒;②通过对S蛋白的改造可以改变冠状病毒的组织和物种嗜性,从而将外源基因定向表达到不同的组织器官或物种。因此,冠状病毒对于疫苗开发以及基因治疗是前景非常好的载体。     

Ribosomal RNA Multigene Loci: Nomads of the Triticeae Genomes

The nucleolus organizing regions (NORs) on the short arms of chromosomes 1A(m) and 5A(m) of diploid wheat, Triticum monococcum L., are at the most distal loci in the linkage maps of these two chromosome arms. This distal location differs from the interstitial location of the Nor loci on chromosome arms 1BS of tetraploid Triticum turgidum L. and hexaploid T. aestivum L., 5DS of T. aestivum and diploid Ae. tauschii Coss., and 5HS of barley. Moreover, the barley 5HS locus is at a different location than the 5DS locus. However, other markers, including the centromeres, are colinear. These findings showed that the major Nor loci have repeatedly changed position in the chromosome arms during the radiation of species in the tribe Triticeae without rearrangements of the linkage groups. It is suggested that Nor loci may change position via dispersion of minor loci, that are shown here to exist in the T. monococcum genome, magnification of gene copy numbers in these minor loci, and subsequent deletion of the original major loci. Implications of these findings for the use of rRNA nucleotide sequences in phylogenetic reconstructions are pointed out.     

Generation of a replication-competent,propagation-deficient virus vector based on the transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus genome

Replication-competent propagation-deficient virus vectors based on the transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus (TGEV) genome that are deficient in the essential E gene have been developed by complementation within E(+) packaging cell lines. Cell lines expressing the TGEV E protein were established using the noncytopathic Sindbis virus replicon pSINrep21. In addition, cell lines stably expressing the E gene under the CMV promoter have been developed. The Sindbis replicon vector and the ectopic TGEV E protein did not interfere with the rescue of infectious TGEV from full-length cDNA. Recombinant TGEV deficient in the nonessential 3a and 3b genes and the essential E gene (rTGEV-Delta3abDeltaE) was successfully rescued in these cell lines. rTGEV-Delta3abDeltaE reached high titers (10(7) PFU/ml) in baby hamster kidney cells expressing porcine aminopeptidase N (BHK-pAPN), the cellular receptor for TGEV, using Sindbis replicon and reached titers up to 5 x 10(5) PFU/ml in cells stably expressing E protein under the control of the CMV promoter. The virus titers were proportional to the E protein expression level. The rTGEV-Delta3abDeltaE virions produced in the packaging cell line showed the same morphology and stability under different pHs and temperatures as virus derived from the full-length rTGEV genome, although a delay in virus assembly was observed by electron microscopy and virus titration in the complementation system in relation to the wild-type virus. These viruses were stably grown for >10 passages in the E(+) packaging cell lines. The availability of packaging cell lines will significantly facilitate the production of safe TGEV-derived vectors for vaccination and possibly gene therapy.     

Engineering Silkworms for Resistance to Baculovirus Through Multigene RNA Interference

Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) that infects the silkworm, B. mori, accounts for >50% of silk cocoon crop losses globally. We speculated that simultaneous targeting of several BmNPV essential genes in transgenic silkworm would elicit a stable defense against the virus. We introduced into the silkworm germline the vectors carrying short sequences of four essential BmNPV genes in tandem, either in sense or antisense or in inverted-repeat arrangement. The transgenic silkworms carrying the inverted repeat-containing transgene showed stable protection against high doses of baculovirus infection. Further, the antiviral trait was incorporated to a commercially productive silkworm strain highly susceptible to BmNPV. This led to combining the high-yielding cocoon and silk traits of the parental commercial strain and a very high level of refractoriness (>75% survival rate as compared to <15% in nontransgenic lines) to baculovirus infection conferred by the transgene. We also observed impaired infectivity of the occlusion bodies derived from the transgenic lines as compared to the wild-type ones. Currently, large-scale exploitation of these transgenic lines is underway to bring about economic transformation of sericulture.     

Coronavirus minus-strand RNA synthesis and effect of cycloheximide on coronavirus RNA synthesis.

The temporal sequence of coronavirus plus-strand and minus-strand RNA synthesis was determined in 17CL1 cells infected with the A59 strain of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV). MHV-induced fusion was prevented by keeping the pH of the medium below pH 6.8. This had no effect on the MHV replication cycle, but gave 5- to 10-fold-greater titers of infectious virus and delayed the detachment of cells from the monolayer which permitted viral RNA synthesis to be studied conveniently until at least 10 h postinfection. Seven species of poly(A)-containing viral RNAs were synthesized at early and late times after infection, in nonequal but constant ratios. MHV minus-strand RNA synthesis was first detected at about 3 h after infection and was found exclusively in the viral replicative intermediates and was not detected in 60S single-stranded form in infected cells. Early in the replication cycle, from 45 to 65% of the [3H]uridine pulse-labeled RF core of purified MHV replicative intermediates was in minus-strand RNA. The rate of minus-strand synthesis peaked at 5 to 6 h postinfection and then declined to about 20% of the maximum rate. The addition of cycloheximide before 3 h postinfection prevented viral RNA synthesis, whereas the addition of cycloheximide after viral RNA synthesis had begun resulted in the inhibition of viral RNA synthesis. The synthesis of both genome and subgenomic mRNAs and of viral minus strands required continued protein synthesis, and minus-strand RNA synthesis was three- to fourfold more sensitive to inhibition by cycloheximide than was plus-strand synthesis.     

Cell-free translation of murine coronavirus RNA.

The coding assignments of the intracellular murine hepatitis virus-specific subgenomic RNA species and murine hepatitis virion RNA have been investigated by cell-free translation. The six murine hepatitis virus-specific subgenomic RNAs were partially purified by agarose gel electrophoresis and translated in an mRNA-dependent rabbit reticulocyte lysate, and the cell-free translation products were characterized by gel electrophoresis, immunoprecipitation, and tryptic peptide mapping. These studies have shown that RNA 7 codes for the nucleocapsid protein, RNA 6 codes for the E1 protein, RNA 3 codes for the E2 protein, and RNA 2 codes for a 35,000-dalton nonstructural protein. Genomic RNA directs the cell-free synthesis of three structurally related polypeptides of greater than 200,000 in molecular weight.