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Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
Correspondence
Eric B. Carstens
Carstens{at}post.queensu.ca
| ABSTRACT |
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A supplementary table showing oligonucleotide primers used in PCR assays is available in JGV Online.
Present address: National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, Department of Molecular and Microbiology, George Mason University, Manassas, VA 20110, USA. ![]()
| INTRODUCTION |
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A major question remains about baculovirus origin(s) of replication: do hrs act as origins of replication in vivo? It has been shown previously that hr5 can be deleted without any major affect on virus replication (Rodems & Friesen, 1993
). However, no information is available for the hrs located in other regions of AcMNPV. Here, we investigated whether any of the other hrs is essential for in vivo virus replication.
| METHODS |
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Cloning and subcloning of viral DNA fragments.
Plasmids pAchr1, pAchr1a, pAchr2, pAchr3, pAchr4a and pAchr4b, each carrying one specific AcMNPV hr region, have been described previously (Wu & Carstens, 1996
). The series of hr deletion plasmids pAc
hr1, pAc
hr1a, pAc
hr2, pAc
hr3, pAc
hr4a and pAc
hr4b has also been described (Wu & Carstens, 1996
). For the current study, these plasmids were digested with EcoRI to remove the hr sequences and ligated with a 4.0 kb EcoRI fragment carrying the ie-1 promoter driving the Escherichia coli
-galactosidase (lacZ) gene (isolated by partial digestion of pIE1-lacZ with EcoRI) to generate pAc
hr1-lacZ, pAc
hr1a-lacZ, pAc
hr2-lacZ, pAc
hr3-lacZ, pAc
hr4a-lacZ and pAc
hr4b-lacZ. A 4.5 kb HindIIIBamHI fragment from pIE1-lacZ was cloned into the BglIIHindIII site of the EcoRI-P region of pAcEcoRI-P (vector pUC8) to generate pAcp10-lacZ. The plasmid pIE1-lacZ was a gift from Dr Paul Friesen (University of WisconsinMadison, WI, USA). All constructs were confirmed by restriction digestion and sequence analysis.
Construction of hr knockout viruses.
To knock out specific hrs, individual plasmids carrying viral regions in which hr1, hr1a, hr2, hr3, hr4a or hr4b were replaced by the lacZ gene were co-transfected with vAc DNA into Sf21 cells as described previously (Wu & Carstens, 1998
). Cells were harvested 3 days after co-transfection and budded virus (BV) preparations were screened and purified by four to seven rounds of plaque assays. Recombinant viruses were identified by the production of blue plaques. To generate viruses where two hrs were deleted, DNA derived from vAc
hr3lacZ was co-transfected with plasmid pAc
hr3 DNA to remove the lacZ gene from the virus. Recombinants (white plaques) were plaque-purified (vAc
hr3). DNA from vAc
hr3 was co-transfected with pAc
hr2lacZ, and BV from the transfection supernatant was screened by plaque assays for the presence of blue plaques. Recombinant viruses where the hr3 region was deleted and the hr2 region was replaced by the lacZ gene (vAc
hr3
hr2lacZ) were selected and plaque-purified six times to homogeneity. BV preparations were titrated by plaque assay and by TCID50 assay (Liu & Carstens, 1993
). Titrations of BV by TCID50 were carried out with 10-fold dilutions to get approximate titres and then in triplicate with 2-fold dilutions to obtain accurate final titres.
Quantitative real-time PCR.
Real-time PCR was performed with a Rotor-Gene 3000 cycler (Montreal Biotech) using a ready-to-use hot start reaction mix (iQ SYBR Green Supermix; Bio-Rad). The mix contained Taq DNA polymerase and SYBR Green I for real-time detection of double-stranded DNA during the PCR. Reactions of 16 µl including 0.5 mM of each primer were performed for 2030 cycles. Standard DNA samples, prepared from Sf21 cell DNA using an Easy-DNA kit (Invitrogen), serially diluted to 100, 10 and 1.0 ng and 100 and 10 pg, and from purified AcMNPV BV DNA, serially diluted to 1000, 100, 10, 1.0 and 0.1 pg were used. Sf21 cells were infected in triplicate (m.o.i. of 5) and, at various times after infection, total DNA was prepared using an Easy-DNA kit. The extracted DNA samples were diluted and 3 µl was used for real-time PCR. Primers designed to amplify a unique segment of genomic DNA (264 bp) were derived from the Sf21 hsp90 gene (Landais et al., 2001
) (hsp90F2 and hsp90B2; Supplementary Table S1, available in JGV Online). Primers designed to amplify a segment of AcMNPV (369 bp) were derived from sequences upstream of the hr3 region (p95F1 and p95B1; Supplementary Table S1). Following PCR, the x-axis crossing point of each standard sample was plotted against the logarithm of concentration to produce a standard curve for both genomic and viral DNA standards. Genomic equivalents of DNA samples were determined by extrapolation from standard curves. One copy of AcMNPV genomic DNA is 1.36x104 pg. The size of the S. frugiperda genome is estimated to be 400 Mb (31 chromosomes, 0.412 pg per cell) (d'Alençon et al., 2004
). A melting-curve analysis of each amplified sample was carried out to check the specificity of each reaction. The results of replicates of real-time PCR runs were analysed using a freeware package from the R project for statistical computing (http://www.r-project.org/).
| RESULTS |
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Primers located within viral sequences flanking each hr region were used in conjunction with primers specific for the lacZ gene (lacZF1 or lacZB1; Supplementary Table S1) to amplify the junction regions between viral sequences and the lacZ insert. The results of these reactions were all as expected, confirming the location of the lacZ gene within each hr region and mapping the orientation of the lacZ gene within the various hr regions (Fig. 2a
). PCRs using the opposite lacZ primer were all negative, demonstrating that the plasmids were genetically clean (data not shown). These results validated the primer pairs for investigation of the hr knockout by lacZ insertion in recombinant viruses.
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hr1lacZ, vAc
hr1alacZ, vAc
hr2lacZ, vAc
hr3lacZ, vAc
hr4alacZ. vAc
hr4blacZ and vAc
p10lacZ). The fact that viable BV was produced from each of the hr knockout infections suggested that none of the individual hrs was absolutely essential for virus replication or virus production.
To confirm that individual hrs had been removed, purified DNA from each knockout virus was investigated by PCR analysis using the same primer pairs used above to orient the lacZ gene within the knockout plasmids (Fig. 2b
). The results demonstrated that each knockout virus carried the lacZ gene and its orientation was the same as in the original plasmid transfer vectors used for the co-transfections (compare Fig. 2a and b
). Therefore, each individual hr region in the viral DNA had been replaced by the lacZ gene. However, we have previously shown that plasmid DNA can become incorporated into BVs and can be continuously present in passaged virus stocks (Wu et al., 1999
). We confirmed that the signals obtained from these PCRs were amplified from an integrated copy of the lacZ gene inserted into the corresponding region of the viral genome and not from a copy of the original plasmid co-packaged into virions and present as a contaminant in the infected cells with another series of primers designed from viral sequences lying outside the region present in the original plasmid transfer vectors (Supplementary Table S1, available in JGV Online). When used in conjunction with a specific lacZ primer, the PCR would amplify a product only if the lacZ gene was integrated into the viral genome, as the viral primer site was not included in the sequences cloned into the original plasmids. All knockout viruses carried integrated copies of lacZ, which were amplified by primers specific to the expected hr region (Fig. 3
, compare with Fig. 2b
). These results confirmed the integration of lacZ into the viral genomes and the replacement of the hr region with this reporter gene.
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p10lacZ) was included. P10 is a very late gene product, so a knockout of this gene would not be expected to affect early events or BV production (Weyer et al., 1990
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hr3 plasmid and vAc
hr3lacZ viral DNA were co-transfected into Sf21 cells and the resulting supernatants were screened for the presence of recombinant viruses producing white plaques (loss of lacZ expression). Several white plaques were obtained and these viruses, designated vAc
hr3, were plaque-purified. Deletion of the lacZ gene from the hr3 region of this virus was confirmed by PCR using the flanking primer pair hr3F and hr3B4 (expected 297 bp product) and hr3F and hr3R (expected 616 bp product) (Fig. 5a
hr3 viral and pAc
hr2lacZ plasmid DNA and the supernatants were screened for recombinant viruses expressing the lacZ gene (blue plaques). Many blue plaques were seen in the initial plaque screens but when these plaques were picked and replaqued, many of the progeny plaques were still lacZ-negative (white). It required four to five plaque purifications before virus stocks were obtained that expressed only pure blue plaques. Working virus stocks were prepared from isolates, designated vAc
hr3
hr2lacZ. DNA from vAc
hr3
hr2lacZ was isolated and examined by PCR. Amplification with primer pair hr3F and hr3B4 (297 bp fragment) and hr3F and hr3R (616 bp fragment) confirmed that vAc
hr3
hr2lacZ carried the hr3 knockout (Fig. 5a
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hr2lacZ, vAc
hr3
lacZ and two different plaque isolates of the double-knockout recombinant virus vAc
hr3
hr2lacZ, picked plaque 1 (PP1) and 2 (PP2) (Fig. 5b
hr2lacZ DNA, whilst both primer pairs produced fragments of the expected size with vAc
hr3, demonstrating that the hr2 region was intact, as expected, in the parental viral DNA prior to recombination with pAc
hr2lacZ. Analysis of the double-knockout viruses showed that both of these viruses carried a large insert in the hr2 region, which was amplifiable using hr2F1 and either the hr2B1 or hr2B2 primers (Fig. 5b
Protein synthesis in recombinant viruses
Although hrs are suspected to act as enhancers of mRNA expression, based on experiments using reporter plasmids in which hrs are placed in close proximity to viral promoters, as far as we know, it has not been demonstrated that this enhancement results in higher protein synthesis levels in virus-infected cells. To determine whether the deletion of specific hrs detectably affected protein expression and accumulation, Sf21 cells infected with knockout virus (m.o.i. of 5) were investigated by immunoblotting. Extracts of equal quantities of cells, harvested at 12 h p.i., were analysed to determine the relative amounts of immediate-early (IE-1), delayed-early (P143, LEF-3, P47), early and late (GP64), and late (VP39) genes expressed by each knockout virus. Representative blots are shown in Fig. 6
. The experiments were repeated three times and at least two separate blots were analysed for each experiment. Although this approach is not quantitative, in general, the results did not reveal any consistent differences in the amount of these proteins detected in any of the single hr knockout virus infections (Fig. 6
, lanes 25 and 79). However, cells infected with the double knockout consistently revealed a reduction in vp39 expression at 12 h p.i. (Fig. 6
, lane 6). However, this difference had disappeared by 18 h p.i. (not shown). VP39 is the major capsid protein produced in large amounts during normal virus infection.
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p10 (estimated to be 2.0x103 copies per cell). vAc
hr4a and vAc
hr3 produced significantly more viral DNA (estimated to be 2.7x103 copies per cell) over the entire time course (P
0.0001). vAc
hr4b produced more (estimated to be 2.2x103 copies per cell) (P=0.0039) and vAchr1a produced less (estimated to be 1.7x103 copies per cell) (P=0.0033). The double knockout, vAc
hr3
hr2, also produced less DNA (estimated to be 1.8x103 copies per cell) than vAc
p10 (P=0.0243), whilst vAc
hr1 and vAc
hr2 were indistinguishable from vAc
p10 (P=0.45630.4892). As the graphs show, there was a broadening of the data points with increasing time after infection, suggesting an increase in variation of analysis with time. This was probably a result of the non-synchronized state of a normal virus infection. | DISCUSSION |
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The virus growth curves of the hr knockout viruses were indistinguishable from the control virus. In addition, these growth curves were comparable with those of normal AcMNPV infections in time of appearance of BV, the slope of increase in virus titre with time and the final titre of virus obtained. Therefore, none of the hrs tested was essential for production of normal levels of BV nor did any of the knockouts detectably affect the temporal formation of BV. These results are consistent with a previous report where deletion of hr5 had no apparent effect on the production of BV (Rodems & Friesen, 1993
).
We have previously shown that expression of the AcMNPV p143 promoter can be stimulated up to 20-fold in transient expression assays by including hr5 in cis on the reporter plasmid (Lu & Carstens, 1993
). This suggests that hrs may play a role in gene enhancement during virus infection. However, it is not known whether any particular hr is required for this enhancement or if this level of enhancement occurs in vivo. The specific locations of hrs on the genome may reflect positional requirements for transcription enhancers in vivo. If this were the case, then deletion of an hr located closer to a particular gene might affect the expression of that proximal gene more strongly than a more distant one. However, our data provided no evidence to support this hypothesis (Fig. 1
). In fact, our results support those of a previous report where deletion of hr5 had little or no effect on late gene expression but had a promoter-specific effect perhaps limited to viral promoters responsive to the host RNA polymerase II (Rodems & Friesen, 1993). However, these studies were based on analysis of the expression of p35, a gene immediately upstream of hr5. Expression of p35 mRNA in the absence of hr5 was reduced approximately 2-fold. The data presented here show that the accumulation of early gene products required for DNA replication such as IE-1, P143 and LEF-3 was unaffected by any of the knockouts. However, the genes investigated were located much further from any hr region than p35 and hr5. Deletion of hr3 or hr4a, which are located 12.8 kbp upstream and 9.2 kbp downstream of p143, did not reduce P143 accumulation at 12 h p.i. compared with its expression in cells infected with any of the other knockout viruses. Likewise, deletion of hr2 did not result in any observable alteration in P47 accumulation, even though hr2 is located only about 3.5 kbp away from p47. The accumulation of these early or delayed-early genes did not appear to be altered by any single knockout or by the double knockout (hr2 and hr3). However, there was a consistent reduction in or delayed accumulation of VP39, the major capsid protein, in cells infected with the double-knockout virus. This reduction did not affect virus production as the growth curves for this virus were almost identical to all of the other knockout viruses. This suggests that the major capsid protein is produced in excess during the replication cycle and a reduction in accumulation at 12 h p.i. does not affect the production of BV significantly.
When we examined the DNA replication patterns of the single- and double-knockout viruses using real-time PCR, the time and rate of increase of intracellular viral DNA, as well as the total accumulation of viral DNA, was not affected dramatically by the single hr knockouts, at least up to 25 h p.i. The estimate of the number of copies of viral DNA per cell presented here is based on our assumption of 1.6 pg genomic DNA (four copies) per Sf21 cell in culture. There was an increase in the amount of accumulated DNA in cells infected with vAc
hr3 and vAc
hr4a at 25 h p.i. compared with the control virus vAc
p10. The effect of inserting the lacZ gene in these knockouts would simply increase the distance between he65 and orf106 in the hr4a region and between p95 and orf84 in the hr3 region. It is unclear how this might stimulate an increase in viral DNA at late times after infection. We have shown previously that plasmids in which hr3 or hr4a are deleted still replicate. However, the amount of replicated DNA was not quantified in that study (Wu & Carstens, 1996
). All other single knockouts were comparable to the control vAc
p10 knockout, supporting the conclusion that no particular hr region is essential for viral DNA replication or gene expression. Even deletion of two hrs did not result in a significant reduction in viral DNA accumulation. Apparently, deleting hr2 in addition to hr3 negated any stimulation of viral DNA accumulation by the single deletion of hr3. The lack of reduction in the early accumulation of viral DNA in cells infected with the double hr knockout suggests that the presence of multiple copies of hrs does not increase the efficiency of viral DNA replication. Therefore, it is possible that only a single hr is essential for virus replication. With the exception of Trichoplusia ni single nucleopolyhedrovirus (Willis et al., 2005
), all baculovirus genomes sequenced to date carry variable numbers of hrs (Okano et al., 2006
), but the number and location of the various hrs are stable in individual baculoviruses, with no evidence of their involvement in intra-hr inversions during replication. All of our results are consistent with the hypothesis that, in AcMNPV, multiple hrs result in redundancy of origin function and that no single hr is essential for replication of AcMNPV in cell culture. Therefore, the functional significance of multiple origins of DNA replication in baculovirus remains unclear.
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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Received 13 July 2006;
accepted 7 September 2006.
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