Project description:The human Adeno-Associated Virus serotype 2 (WT AAV2) is a common non-pathological virus and its recombinant form (rAAV) is widely used as gene therapy vector. However, it has been shown that WT AAV2 and recombinant AAV display significantly different characteristics, especially regarding infection rate, with a near perfect infectivity and better encapsidation rate of WT AAV2. Even though rAAVs are routinely produced in the Baculovirus/Sf9 cell system, WT AAV2 has never been produced in this context. To understand the infectivity and encapsidation rate differences between WT AAV2 and rAAV, we tried to produce WT AAV2 in baculovirus/Sf9 cells system hypothesizing that the WT AAV2 may be considered as a normal recombinant AAV transgene. Through our attempts to produce WT AAV2 in Baculovirus/Sf9, we found that WT AAV2 p5 promoter, which controls the expression of large Rep proteins in mammalian cells, was active in this system. p5 promoter activity in the baculovirus/Sf9 cell system led to the expression of Rep78 that finally excises WT AAV2 genome from the baculovirus genome during the earliest phase of baculovirus stock production. The p5 promoter expression kinetics and the specific strand RNA-Seq analysis of the WT AAV2, rAAV Rep2/Cap2 cassettes in the baculovirus context was performed. We demonstrate that the WT AAV2 native promoters, p5, p19 and p40 are all active and lead to the expression of different proteins and peptides. In addition, this study demonstrates that the baculovirus brings at least some of the helper functions needed in the AAV replication/life cycle.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) as small non-coding RNAs play important roles in many biological processes such as development, cell signalling and immune response. Studies also suggest that miRNAs are important in host–virus interactions where the host limits virus infection by differentially expressing miRNAs that target essential viral genes. Here, we identified conserved and new miRNAs from Spodoptera frugiperda cells (Sf9) using a combination of deep sequencing and bioinformatics as well as experimental approaches. S. frugiperda miRNAs share common features of miRNAs in other organisms, such as uracil (U) at the 59 end of miRNA. The 59 ends of the miRNAs were more conserved than the 39 ends, revealing evolutionary protection of the seed region in miRNAs. The predominant miRNAs were found to be conserved among arthropods. The majority of homologous miRNAs were found in Bombyx mori, with 76 of the 90 identified miRNAs. We found that seed shifting and arm switching have happened in this insect’s miRNAs. Expression levels of the majority of miRNAs changed following baculovirus infection. Results revealed that baculovirus infection mainly led to an overall suppression of cellular miRNAs. We found four different genes being regulated by sfr-miR-184 at the post-transcriptional level. The data presented here further support conservation of miRNAs in insects and other organisms. In addition, the results reveal a differential expression of host miRNAs upon baculovirus infection, suggesting their potential roles in host–virus interactions. Seed shifting and arm switching happened during evolution of miRNAs in different insects and caused miRNA diversification, which led to changes in the target repository of miRNAs. Identification of miRNA and other small non coding RNA in NPV infected Sf9 cells
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) as small non-coding RNAs play important roles in many biological processes such as development, cell signalling and immune response. Studies also suggest that miRNAs are important in host–virus interactions where the host limits virus infection by differentially expressing miRNAs that target essential viral genes. Here, we identified conserved and new miRNAs from Spodoptera frugiperda cells (Sf9) using a combination of deep sequencing and bioinformatics as well as experimental approaches. S. frugiperda miRNAs share common features of miRNAs in other organisms, such as uracil (U) at the 59 end of miRNA. The 59 ends of the miRNAs were more conserved than the 39 ends, revealing evolutionary protection of the seed region in miRNAs. The predominant miRNAs were found to be conserved among arthropods. The majority of homologous miRNAs were found in Bombyx mori, with 76 of the 90 identified miRNAs. We found that seed shifting and arm switching have happened in this insect’s miRNAs. Expression levels of the majority of miRNAs changed following baculovirus infection. Results revealed that baculovirus infection mainly led to an overall suppression of cellular miRNAs. We found four different genes being regulated by sfr-miR-184 at the post-transcriptional level. The data presented here further support conservation of miRNAs in insects and other organisms. In addition, the results reveal a differential expression of host miRNAs upon baculovirus infection, suggesting their potential roles in host–virus interactions. Seed shifting and arm switching happened during evolution of miRNAs in different insects and caused miRNA diversification, which led to changes in the target repository of miRNAs.