Expression and purification of a neuropeptide nocistatin using two related plant viral vectors

Functionalized Protein Nanotubes Based on the Bacteriophage vB_KleM-RaK2 Tail Sheath Protein

We report on the construction of functionalized nanotubes based on tail sheath protein 041 from vB_KleM-RaK2 bacteriophage. The truncated 041 protein (041Δ200) was fused with fluorescent proteins GFP and mCherry or amidohydrolase YqfB. The generated chimeric proteins were successfully synthesized in E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells and self-assembled into tubular structures. We detected the fluorescence of the structures, which was confirmed by stimulated emission depletion microscopy. When 041Δ200GFP and 041Δ200mCherry were coexpressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells, the formed nanotubes generated Förster resonance energy transfer, indicating that both fluorescent proteins assemble into a single nanotube. Chimeric 041Δ200YqfB nanotubes possessed an enzymatic activity, which was confirmed by hydrolysis of N⁴-acetyl-2′-deoxycytidine. The enzymatic properties of 041Δ200YqfB were similar to those of a free wild-type YqfB. Hence, we conclude that 041-based chimeric nanotubes have the potential for the development of delivery vehicles and targeted imaging and are applicable as scaffolds for biocatalysts.

The length of an internal poly(A) tract of hibiscus latent Singapore virus is crucial for its replication

Hibiscus latent Singapore virus (HLSV) mutants were constructed to study roles of its internal poly(A) tract (IPAT) in viral replication and coat protein (CP) expression. Shortening of the IPAT resulted in reduced HLSV RNA accumulation and its minimal length required for HLSV CP expression in plants was 24 nt. Disruption of a putative long range RNA-RNA interacting structure between 5' and 3' untranslated regions of HLSV-22A and -24A resulted in reduced viral RNA and undetectable CP accumulation in inoculated leaves. Replacement of the IPAT in HLSV with an upstream pseudoknot domain (UPD) of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) or insertion of the UPD to the immediate downstream of a 24 nt IPAT in HLSV resulted in drastically reduced viral RNA replication. Plants infected with a TMV mutant by replacement of the UPD with 43 nt IPAT exhibited milder mosaic symptoms without necrosis. We have proposed a model for HLSV replication.

Foreign protein production using plant cell and organ cultures: Advantages and limitations

Plants and plant tissue cultures are used as host systems for expression of foreign proteins including antibodies, vaccines and other therapeutic agents. Recombinant or stably transformed plants and plant cell cultures have been applied for foreign protein production for about 20 years. Because the product concentration achieved exerts a major influence on process economics, considerable efforts have been made by commercial and academic research groups to improve foreign protein expression levels. However, post-synthesis product losses due to protease activity within plant tissues and/or extracellular protein adsorption in plant cell cultures can negate the benefits of molecular or genetic enhancement of protein expression. Transient expression of foreign proteins using plant viral vectors is also a practical approach for producing foreign proteins in plants. Adaptation of this technology is required to allow infection and propagation of engineered viruses in plant tissue cultures for transient protein expression in vitro.

Morphology and stability changes of recombinant TMV particles caused by a cysteine residue in the foreign peptide fused to the coat protein

In the studies of expressing various foreign peptides using a TMV-based vector, a portion of morphologically altered progeny viral particles from some recombinant TMV constructs were detected by transmission electron microscopy in the first systematically infected upper leaves, but not in the fully expanded inoculated leaves, from infected tobacco plants. Furthermore, in vitro stability of such recombinant TMV constructs were lower than those of the wild type and other recombinant TMV constructs able to form regular rod-shape virions, hence causing the lower yields of recombinant viral particles purified from the infected tobacco plants. Our studies revealed that the presence of a cysteine residue in the foreign peptides, regardless of its position and the peptide sequence, was directly related to changes in the morphology and stability of these TMV recombinants.

Immunoabsorbent nanoparticles based on a tobamovirus displaying protein A

Earlier attempts to express peptides longer than 20 aa on the surface of tobamoviruses such as tobacco mosaic virus have failed. Surprisingly, we found that a functional fragment of protein A (133 aa) can be displayed on the surface of a tobamovirus as a C-terminal fusion to the coat protein via a 15-aa linker. The macromolecular nature of these nanoparticles allowed the design of a simple protocol for purification of mAbs with a recovery yield of 50% and > 90% product purity. The extremely dense packing of protein A on the nanoparticles (> 2,100 copies per viral particle) results in an immunoadsorbent with a binding capacity of 2 g mAb per g. This characteristic, combined with the high level of expression of the nanoparticles (> 3 g adsorbent per kg of leaf biomass), provides a very inexpensive self-assembling matrix that could meet the criteria for a single-use industrial immunoadsorbent for antibody purification.

Construction of an infectious cDNA clone of Ribgrass mosaic virus Shanghai isolate and its modification to express an epitope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Infectious cDNA clones of the Shanghai isolate of Ribgrass mosaic virus (RMV) were produced by joining four overlapping cDNA fragments and also in a single step by long template PCR. After inoculation of Nicotiana glutinosa with either RNA transcripts or the cDNA under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter, plants developed typical symptoms, and viral coat protein could be detected in them by Western blot analysis. However, compared to plants inoculated with purified viral RNA, lesions were fewer and appeared more slowly. An epitope of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis 31-kDa protein was inserted at the C-terminus of the viral coat protein by PCR using two overlapping fragments. The modified clone was also infectious and the foreign epitope could be detected serologically in the electron microscope and by Western blot analysis. The results demonstrate the potential of RMV as a viral gene vector.

TMV recombinants encoding fused foreign transmembrane domains to the CP subunit caused local necrotic response on susceptible tobacco

With regard to the effects of various foreign peptides fused to the coat protein subunits on the infectivity of corresponding TMV recombinants, some of TMV recombinants were found to induce necrotic local lesions on the inoculated leaves of susceptible tobacco. This paper reported that there existed a group of TMV recombinants in which the fused foreign peptides contained a transmembrane domain according to the predictions by three programs of SOSUI, TMpred and DAS. Further studies showed for the first time that a foreign transmembrane domain in a fused peptide of the corresponding TMV recombinant would result in the local lesions on the susceptible tobacco leaves. In addition, it was concluded that none of the TMV recombinants that systematically infected susceptible tobacco contained a transmembrane domain in the coat protein subunits.

In Planta production of immunogenic poliovirus peptide using tobacco mosaic virus-based vector system

The tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) provides an attractive means of producing foreign peptides in plants. In this study, a TMV-based vector was designed such that a fragment encoding 15 amino acids of the poliovirus peptide (PVP) derived from the viral capsid proteins VP3 and VP1 of poliovirus type 1 Sabin was inserted downstream of the six-base 3' context nucleotide sequence of the TMV coat protein (CP) gene. This design allowed readthrough at the amber stop codon, thereby producing the chimeric TMV particle with both intact CP and CP-fusion protein (CP-PVP) in Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun infected with the TMV vector. The TMVCP-PVP virus particle induced antibodies against PVP as well as TMVCP in mice after intraperitoneal immunization. These data illustrate the potential of the readthrough translation system with TMVCP for antigen presentation and vaccine production.

High-level expression of the neutralizing epitope of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus by a tobacco mosaic virus-based vector

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes acute enteritis in pigs of all ages and is often fatal for neonates. A tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-based vector was utilized for the expression of a core neutralizing epitope of PEDV (COE) for the development of a plant-based vaccine. In this study, the coding sequence of a COE gene was optimized based on the modification of codon usage in tobacco plant genes and the removal of mRNA-destabilizing sequences. The native and synthetic COE genes were cloned into TMV-based vectors and expressed in tobacco plants. The recombinant COE protein constituted up to 5.0% of the total soluble protein in the leaves of tobacco plants infected with the TMV-based vector containing synthetic COE gene, which was approximately 30-fold higher than that in tobacco plants infected with TMV-based vector containing a native COE gene. Therefore, this result indicates that the plant viral expression system with a synthetic gene optimized for plant expression is suitable to produce a large amount of antigen for the development of plant-based vaccine rapidly.

Expression of the B subunit of the heat-labile enterotoxin of Escherichia coli in tobacco mosaic virus-infected Nicotiana benthamiana plants and its characterization as mucosal immunogen and adjuvant

We have produced biologically active recombinant (r) LTB, the nontoxic B subunit of heat-labile toxin (LT) of Escherichia coli in tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-infected Nicotiana benthamiana plants. We amplified the LTB encoding sequence with its leader and introduced a hexahistidyl tag and an endoplasmic reticulum retention signal. The resulting product was ligated into a TMV-based plant viral expression vector that was used for the generation of recombinant viral RNA. Eighty-nine percent of N. benthamiana plants inoculated with the recombinant viral RNA were systemically infected as determined by anti-TMV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) experiments. The rLTB monomer was identified by LT-specific as well as by histidyl-tag-specific immunoblots. rLTB from plant extracts of TMV-infected N. benthamiana leaves was purified to give 75 microg rLTB pentamers per gram fresh plant material and was capable of binding G(M)1 ganglioside. The immunogenicity of the plant-produced rLTB was tested in mice and showed that intranasal application of rLTB (15 microg per mouse) induced LTB-specific IgG1 antibodies. To prove its adjuvanticity, rLTB was intranasally co-administered with the Hevea latex allergen Hev b 3, leading to allergen-specific IgG1 and IgG2a antibody production. The fact that intranasal application of rLTB and Hev b 3 prior to systemic challenge with the allergen enhanced the Th2 responses at the humoral and cellular level indicated that rLTB promoted immune responses that were naturally induced by the antigen/allergen. In conclusion, these results indicate that the plant viral expression system is suitable for the rapid large-scale production of biologically active LTB with strong mucosal adjuvant capacity.

Plant virus expression systems for transient production of recombinant allergens in Nicotiana benthamiana

In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the use of autonomously replicating plant viruses as vehicles to express a variety of therapeutic molecules of pharmaceutical interest. Plant virus vectors for expression of heterologous proteins in plants represent an attractive biotechnological tool to complement the conventional production of recombinant proteins in bacterial, fungal, or mammalian cells. Virus vectors are advantageous when high levels of gene expression are desired within a short time, although the instability of the foreign genes in the viral genome may present problems. Similar levels of foreign protein production in transgenic plants often are unattainable, in some cases because of the toxicity of the foreign protein. Now virus-based vectors are for the first time investigated as a means of producing recombinant allergens in plants. Several plant virus vectors have been developed for the expression of foreign proteins. Here, we describe the utilization of tobacco mosaic virus- and potato virus X-based vectors for the transient expression of plant allergens in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. One approach involves the inoculation of tobacco plants with infectious RNA transcribed in vitro from a cDNA copy of the recombinant viral genome. Another approach utilizes the transfection of whole plants from wounds inoculated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing cDNA copies of recombinant plus-sense RNA viruses.

Efficient Gene Transfer into Human Trophoblast Cells with Adenovirus Vector Containing Chimeric Type 5 and 35 Fiber Protein

Recombinant adenovirus (Ad) vectors based on Ad type 5 have been widely used for gene transfer experiments. Conventional Ad type 5 vectors have a narrow range of tropism and are limited by the size of the transgene that can be packaged. To overcome these limitations, we previously developed an Ad vector (Ad5/35 vector) containing a chimeric Ad type 5 and 35 fiber protein. In the current study, we evaluated the ability of the Ad5/35 vector to transfer genes into human trophoblast cell lines (JAR, JEG-3 and BeWo cells), which are used as in vitro models of human placenta. We compared the gene transfer efficiency of Ad5/35 to that of conventional Ad vector. We found that expression of CD46, which are receptors for Ad5/35 vector, are higher than that of coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor in all 3 trophoblast cell lines, as determined by flow cytometry. Next, we compared the transducing activity of Ad5 vector and Ad5/35 vector that each expressed luciferase as a reporter gene. Ad5/35 vector had greater gene transfer activity than the conventional Ad vector in all 3 trophoblast cell lines (1.82-fold in JAR cells, 5.37-fold in BeWo cells, 6.11-fold in JEG-3 cells). Thus, Ad vector that contains chimeric type 5 and 35 fiber protein can be a powerful tool for gene transfer experiments in human trophoblast cell lines.

[Basic study for next-generation gene therapy products]

Successful gene therapy depends largely on vectors that can efficiently deliver the therapeutic genes into the target tissues and cells. Recombinant adenovirus (Ad) vectors continue to be the preferred vectors for gene therapy because they can easily be grown to high titers and can efficiently transfer genes into both dividing and nondividing cells. However, there are some limitations such as the time-consuming and labor-intensive procedures for vector construction, coxsackievirus-adenovirus receptor (CAR)-dependent gene transfer, immunologic side effects, lack of tissue specificity, lack of regulation of gene expression, etc. In this paper, I review our approach to the development of advanced recombinant Ad vectors. The next generation of Ad vectors have not only become promising vectors for gene therapy but also important tools for gene transfer into mammalian cells.

Endogenous opiates and behavior: 2002

This paper is the twenty-fifth consecutive installment of the annual review of research concerning the endogenous opioid system, now spanning over a quarter-century of research. It summarizes papers published during 2002 that studied the behavioral effects of molecular, pharmacological and genetic manipulation of opioid peptides, opioid receptors, opioid agonists and opioid antagonists. The particular topics that continue to be covered include the molecular-biochemical effects and neurochemical localization studies of endogenous opioids and their receptors related to behavior (Section 2), and the roles of these opioid peptides and receptors in pain and analgesia (Section 3); stress and social status (Section 4); tolerance and dependence (Section 5); learning and memory (Section 6); eating and drinking (Section 7); alcohol and drugs of abuse (Section 8); sexual activity and hormones, pregnancy, development and endocrinology (Section 9); mental illness and mood (Section 10); seizures and neurologic disorders (Section 11); electrical-related activity and neurophysiology (Section 12); general activity and locomotion (Section 13); gastrointestinal, renal and hepatic functions (Section 14); cardiovascular responses (Section 15); respiration and thermoregulation (Section 16); and immunological responses (Section 17).