Molecular Cloning and Characterization of a Putative cDNA Encoding Endoglucanase IV from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trichoderma Viride</Emphasis> and its Expression in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombyx Mori</Emphasis>

The development of cellulase production technology has greatly contributed to the successful use of cellulosic materials as renewable carbon sources. In this study, a putative endoglucanase IV (EG IV) complementary DNA was cloned from the mycelium of a strain of the filamentous fungus Trichoderma viride using a PCR-based exon-splicing method and expressed in both a silkworm BmN cell line and in silkworm larvae. Western blot analysis detected a band of 42 kDa in BmN cells after infection with a recombinant mBacmid/BmNPV/EG IV baculovirus. Sequence alignment analysis of the T. viride EG IV gene showed two domains that were highly conserved with glycosyl hydrolases and a funga-type cellulose-binding domain. Analysis of variance showed that silkworms infected with recombinant baculoviruses exhibited significantly higher enzyme activity that was 48.84% higher than silkworms infected with blank baculoviruses and 46.61% higher than normal silkworms. The expressed bioactive EG IV was also stable at the pH range from 5.0 to 10.0. The availability of large quantities of bioactive EG IV in silkworm provided a possibility to produce cellulase transgenic silkworm, which express bioactive cellulase specially in its digestive tract and improve its metabolism efficiency of mulberry leaves. Its application in the sericulture industry may be very promising.     

Isolation and Purification of Recombinant HBsAg of Human Hepatitis B Virus from Silkworm Larvae

Recombinant HBsAg coded by preS1-preS2-S regions of hepatitis B virus was expressed in Bombyx mori silkworm larvae. Recombinant HBsAg was expressed (30–40 μg/mL, 0.1% of the total amount of extracted protein) by larvae infected with recombinant baculovirus rBmNPV-Hep-preS1-S containing cDNA of HBsAg strictly by the polyhedrin gene promoter. Recombinant HBsAg consisting of a polypeptide of molecular weight ∼36 kDa (p36) was purified by gel filtration and affinity chromatography to 92% purity. __________ Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 477–480, September–October, 2005.     

Purification and Kinetic Properties of Human Recombinant Dihydrofolate Reductase Produced in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombyx mori</Emphasis> Chrysalides

Recent reports describe the inhibition of human dihydrofolate reductase (hDHFR) by natural tea polyphenols. This finding could explain the epidemiologic data on their prophylactic effects for certain forms of cancer, and it raises the possibility that natural and synthetic polyphenols could be used in cancer chemotherapy. In order to obtain larger quantities of hDHFR to support structural studies, we established and validated a baculovirus system for the expression of this protein in Bombyx mori chrysalides (pupae of the silkworm enclosed in a cocoon). To isolate the expressed protein, whole infected pupae were homogenized, and the expressed protein was purified by affinity chromatography. Here, we demonstrate the efficient expression of recombinant hDHFR in this model and report that this newly expressed protein has high enzymatic activity and kinetic properties similar to those previously reported for recombinant hDHFR expressed in Escherichia coli. The purified protein showed dissociation constants for the binding of natural polyphenols similar to that expressed in E. coli, which ensures its usage as a new tool for further structural studies. Although the hDHFR yield per individual was found to be lower in the chrysalides than in the larvae of B. mori, the former system was optimized as a model for the scaled-up production of recombinant proteins. Expression of proteins in chrysalides (instead of larvae) could offer important advantages from both economic and biosecurity aspects.     

Construction of the ie1-Bacmid Expression System and Its Use to Express EGFP and BmAGO2 in BmN Cells

The presently available expression tools and vectors (e.g., eukaryotic expression vectors and the adenovirus expression system) for studying the functional genes in Bombyx mori are insufficient. The baculovirus expression system is only used as a protein production tool; therefore, recombinant proteins expressed by B. mori using the baculovirus expression system equipped with a polyhedrin promoter cannot be used for in vivo research applications. In this work, we constructed and screened a eukaryotic expression vector for silkworm cells The EGFP and B. mori Argonaute2 proteins were found to be efficiently expressed using the screened pIEx-1 vector with the FuGENE 6 transfection reagent. Additionally, we constructed a novel nucleopolyhedrovirus ie1-Bacmid expression system for the production of recombinant protein; we then used the system to highly express the EGFP and B. mori Argonaute2 proteins. In this system, the protein of interest can be efficiently expressed 13 h after infection by controlling the B. mori nucleopolyhedrovirus immediate early ie1 promoter. The ie1-Bacmid system provides a powerful “adenovirus-like” expression tool; not only can the tool be used to study baculovirus molecular biology for the silkworm but it is also useful in other research applications as well, such as the study of gene functions involved in cellular physiological processes.     

Preparation of Recombinant Baculovirus DNA Coding for β-Galactosidase of Escherichia coli and the Expression Product in Bombyx mori Larvae

A method has been developed for preparing recombinant baculovirus that encoded foreign protein (using -galactosidase ofEscherichia colias an example) directly inBombyx morilarvae (silkworm) and avoids cultivation and the use of a cell line, which are very difficult and require expensive equipment and reagents. This significantly reduces the cost of the recombinant protein without loss of biological properties     

Heterologous expression characteristics of Trichoderma viride endoglucanase V in the silkworm, Bombyx mori L

Efficient degradation of cellulose needs a synergistic reaction of the cellulolytic enzymes, which include exoglucanases, endoglucanases, and β-1,4-glucosidase. In this study, we used an improved Bac-to-Bac/BmNPV baculovirus expression system, which lacks the virus-encoded chitinase cathepsin (v-cath) genes of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV), to express the endoglucanase V (EG V) gene from Trichoderma viride in silkworm BmN cells and silkworm larvae, and analyzed the characteristics of the recombinant enzyme in silkworm larvae. The result showed that an around 36-kDa protein was visualized in BmN cells at 48 h after the second-generation recombinant mBacmid/BmNPV/EG V baculovirus infection. The crude enzyme extract from the recombinant baculoviruses-infected silkworms exhibited a significant maximum activity at the environmental condition of pH 5.0 and a temperature of 50 °C, and increased 39.86% and 37.76% compared with that from blank mBacmid/BmNPV baculovirus-infected silkworms and normal silkworms, respectively. It was stable at pH range from 5.0 to 10.0 and at temperature range from 40 to 60 °C. The availability of large quantities of EG V that the silkworm provides might greatly facilitate the future research and the potential application in industries.     

Expression Analysis and Characteristics of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Profilin</Emphasis> Gene from Silkworm, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombyx mori</Emphasis>

A recombinant Bombyx mori profilin protein (rBmPFN) was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21. Purified rBmPFN was used to generate anti-BmPFN polyclonal antibody, which were used to determine the subcellular localization of BmPFN. Immunostaining indicated that profilin can be found in both the nucleus and cytoplasm but is primarily located in the cytoplasm. Real-time RT-PCR and Western blot analyses indicated that, during the larvae stage, profilin expression levels are highest in the silk gland, followed by the gonad, and are lowest in the fatty body. Additionally, BmPFN expression begins during the egg stage, increases during the larvae stage, reaches a peak during the pupa stage, and decreases significantly in the moth. Therefore, we propose that BmPFN may play an important role during larva stage development, especially in the silk gland.     

Statistical Determination of Optimal Baculovirus Infection Condition for Recombinant Protein Production in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila</Emphasis> S2 Cells

Insect Drosophila melanogaster S2 cell was developed as plasmid-based and, therefore, a nonlytic expression system for functional foreign proteins. To achieve multiple protein expressions, it was suggested that baculovirus be used on S2 cell system because baculovirus can infect S2 cells but cannot replicate inside the cells. Therefore, establishment of baculovirus infection conditions is the first important step and this should be properly optimized for production yield. We used statistical methodology to optimize the baculovirus infection conditions using green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a reporter protein. Consequently, we arrived at optimal infection conditions through a statistical regression method. The secreted GFP yield from vMT-GFP baculovirus-infected wild-type S2 cells under optimal infection conditions was >15-fold higher than that under nonoptimal conditions and comparable to that from stably transfected recombinant S2 cells.     

Large-scale purification of human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor expressed in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombyx mori</Emphasis> pupae

Human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (hGM-CSF) acts on many different kinds of cells, including monocytes, macrophages, granulocytes, eosinophils, and multipotential stem cells. To explore further explore pharmaceutical action, we expressed hGM-CSF by the Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus expression system in silkworm pupae. However, purifying recombinant proteins from silkworm pupae on a large scale has been a big challenge. To establish purification methods suitable for mass production, we tried two crude preparation methods: (NH₄)₂SO₄ fractional precipitation and isoelectric precipitation with a combination of gel filtration andion-exchange chromatography. The isoelectric precipitation method was found to be more efficient. With this method, we eventually obtained approx 11.7 mg of 95% pure product from 1000 g of infected silkworm pupae. The recovery of purified protein was greatly increased, by approx 40%, compared with the other method. The biologic activity of this protein was determined up to 9.0×10⁶ colony-forming units/mg in the final purified product.     

Selection of Peptide Ligands Specific for Baculovirus DNA‐Binding Protein from the Flitrx™ Random Peptide Display Library

Abstract

Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcNPV) is a baculovirus that is widely employed as a vector for the expression of foreign genes and pest control. Although baculoviruses, including AcNPV, efficiently replicate in the nuclei of arthropod cells, the dynamics and mechanism of DNA replication within the infected cell are still poorly understood. It has been found that the DNA‐binding protein (DBP) is an early gene product and appears to be crucial for viral DNA replication.

Presented here is the selection of peptide ligands that specifically bind to DBP for AcNPV from the FliTrx? random peptide display library; this entails the amplification, cloning of the DNA‐binding protein (DBP) gene from AcNPV and the construction of the expression plasmid for DBP, and the expression and purification of the recombinant His.Tag AcNPV DBP that was used as a target molecule for the selection of the peptide ligands specific for AcNPV DBP. The affinity and efficiency of such peptide ligands were then measured by ELISA procedures.

The beneficial aspect of this research is the monospecificity quality of the peptide ligands specific for AcNPV DBP. They could be used for the study of the dynamics of the viral genome and its replication within the infected cell, for the development of a quantitative method for the determination of the presence of baculovirus in various samples, for the development of a peptide ligandbased assay for the determination of baculovirus titers; or they could be immobilized on a chromatographic support for an improved affinity purification of AcNPV DBP.     

Preparation and Properties of Monoclonal Antibodies to Recombinant HBsAg Produced by Silkworm Larvae

Monoclonal antibodies to recombinant HBsAg produced by silkworm (Bombyx mori) larvae were prepared. The cross reactivity of the prepared antibodies was studied by solid-phase enzyme-linked immmunosorbent assay. It has been found that the prepared antibodies interact with recombinant and plasma HBsAg. __________ Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 474–476, September–October, 2005.     

Characterization and Activity Determination of the Human Protein Phosphatase 2A Catalytic Subunit α Expressed in Insect Larvae

Protein phosphatase 2A is the major enzyme that dephosphorylates the serine/threonine residues of proteins in the cytoplasm of animal cells. This phosphatase is most strongly inhibited by okadaic acid. Besides okadaic acid, several other toxins and antibiotics have been shown to inhibit protein phosphatase 2A, including microsystin-LR, calyculin-A, tautomycib, nodularin, cantharidine, and fostriecin. This makes protein phosphatase 2A a valuable tool for detecting and assaying these toxins. High-scale production of active protein phosphatase 2A requires processing kilograms of animal tissue and involves several chromatographic steps. To avoid this, in this work we report the recombinant expression and characterization of the active catalytic subunit ?? of the protein phosphatase 2A in Trichoplusia ni insect larvae. Larvae were infected with baculovirus carrying the coding sequence for the catalytic subunit ?? of protein phosphatase 2A under the control of the polyhedrin promoter and containing a poly-His tag in the carboxyl end. The catalytic subunit was identified in the infected larvae extracts, and it was calculated to be present at 250???g per gram of infected larvae, by western blot. Affinity chromatography was used for protein purification. Protein purity was determined by western blot. The activity of the enzyme, determined by the p-nitrophenyl phosphate method, was 94???mol/min/mg of purified protein. The catalytic subunit was further characterized by inhibition with okadaic acid and dinophysis toxin 2. The results presented in this work show that this method allows the production of large quantities of the active enzyme cost-effectively. Also, the enzyme activity was stable up to 2?months at ?20?°C.     

High-Level Expression, Purification and Production of the Fungal Immunomodulatory Protein-Gts in Baculovirus-Infected Insect Larva

Fip-gts, a fungal immunomodulatory protein (Fip) isolated from Ganoderma tsugae (gts), has been reported to possess therapeutic effects in the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. To cost-effectively produce Fip-gts and bypass the bottleneck involved in its time-consuming purification from G. tsugae, in this study, we incorporated the SP_bbx secretion signal into recombinant baculovirus for expressing glycosylated and bioactive rFip-gts in baculovirus-infected insect cells and Trichoplusia ni larva. This is the first study to employ the aerosol infecting T. ni larva with recombinant baculovirus for economical and high-level production of foreign proteins. In this study, one purification could yield 10 mg of rFip-gts protein merely from ～100 infected T. ni larvae by aerosol inoculation, corresponding to 5 L (5?×?10⁹ cells) of the infected Sf21 culture. In addition, the rFip-gts purified from T. ni larvae could induce the expression of interleukin-2 in murine splenocytes with an immunoresponsive level similar to that induced by LZ-8 (a known potent immunomodulatory protein purified from Ling zhi, Ganoderma lucidum). Thus, our results demonstrated that the larva-based baculovirus expression system can successfully express rFip-gts with the assembling capability required for maintaining immunomodulatory and anticancer activity. Our approach will open a new avenue for the production of rFip-gts and facilitate the immunoregulatory activity of rFip-gts available in the future.     

Effect of expression of manganese superoxide dismutase in baculovirus-infected insect cells

It has previously been demonstrated that baculovirus infection of the Spodoptera frugiperda Sf-9 (Sf-9) and Trichoplusia ni BTI-Tn-5B1-4 (Tn-5B1-4) insect cell lines leads to oxidative stress as measured by protein and membrane lipid oxidation and that this oxidative damage contributes to cell death. As a result of these findings, it was hypothesized that baculovirus infection stimulates superoxide radical (O ₂ ^·— synthesis in the mitochondria and that the resulting O ₂ ^·— accumulation overwhelms the cells’ antioxidant defenses. We investigated the ability of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) expression (which reduces O ₂ ^·— to H₂O₂) to overcome the oxidative damage caused by baculovirus infection. It was found that MnSOD expression significantly reduced oxidative damage in baculovirus-infected Tn-5B1-4 cells but had no significant effect on oxidative damage in baculovirus-infected Sf-9 cells. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that O ₂ ^·— accumulation in the mitochondria is at least partially responsible for the oxidative damage resulting from the baculovirus infection of insect cells.     

Capacity of Bacillus thuringiensis S-layer protein displaying polyhistidine peptides on the cell surface

S-layer protein of Bacillus thuringiensis strain CTC was used as the carrier protein to display polyhistidine (poly[6His]) peptides on the cell surface. Poly(6His) _n was fused with S-layer protein at two different sites, inserting just downstream of the S-layer protein homologous domain (slh) and replacing the non-slh region of S-layer protein, respectively. The two series chimeric proteins were both expressed by crystal negative B. thuringiensis strain 4Q7 and strain 171, respectively, as shown by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The recombinant B. thuringiensis cells gained Ni²⁺- and Cd²⁺-binding ability and had a capacity to display up to nine copies of poly(6His). The Cd²⁺ adsorption quantity of the recombinant strain with the strongest adsorption ability was twice that of the host strain.     

Transgenic Tobacco Expressing <Emphasis Type="Italic">Zephyranthes grandiflora</Emphasis> Agglutinin Confers Enhanced Resistance to Aphids

Plant lectins have been reported as transgenic resistance factors against a variety of insect pests. Herein, homologous analysis demonstrated that Zephyranthes grandiflora agglutinin (ZGA) exhibited high similarity with other monocot mannose-binding lectins (MBLs). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that it had taxonomical relationships with insecticidal MBLs. Subsequently, a plasmid expression vector pBI121 containing zga gene (pBIZGA) was constructed using the zga sequence, under the control of CaMV35S promoter and nos terminator. pBIZGA was then integrated into the genome of Nicotiana tabacum L. Polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot analysis demonstrated that this zga gene was integrated into the plant genome. Western blotting and agglutinating activity analysis also showed that transgenic tobacco plants expressed different levels of ZGA. Carbohydrate inhibition analysis indicated that recombinant ZGA and the native shared the same carbohydrate-binding specificity. Moreover, genetic analysis confirmed Mendelian segregation (3:1) of the transgenic in T1 progenies. In planta bioassays on T0 plants and their progenies indicated that expressed ZGA had an effect on reducing the survivability and fecundity of tobacco aphids (Myzus nicotianae). These findings demonstrate that the novel zga gene of ZGA can be expressed in crop plants susceptible to various sap-sucking insects.     

A ~35 kDa polypeptide from insect cells binds to yeast ACS like elements in the presence of ATP

Background  

The S. cerevisiae origin recognition complex binds to the ARS consensus sequence in an ATP dependent fashion. Recently, the yeast Cdc6 has been reported to have DNA binding activity. Conservation of replication proteins among different species strongly supports their functional similarity. Here we report the results of an investigation into the DNA binding activity of human Cdc6 protein. Cdc6 was expressed and purified from baculovirus infected Sf9 (Spodoptera frugiperda) insect cells as GST fusion protein (GST-Cdc6) and its DNA binding activity was tested.     

Enzyme kinetics and glycan structural characterization of secreted alkaline phosphatase prepared using the baculovirus expression vector system

Secreted human alkaline phosphatase (SEAP, a model protein containing a single N-glycan chain) was expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda Sf-9 (Sf-9) and Trichoplusia ni BTI-Tn-5B1-4 (Tn-5B1-4) insect cell lines infected with recombinant Autographa californica multiple nuclear polyhedrovirus expressing SEAP under control of the polyhedrin promoter. SDS-PAGE showed that both systems expressed fairly pure rSEAP products. The rSEAP expression level was 7.0 U/mL in Tn-5B1-4, higher than the 4.1 U/mL produced by Sf-9. Kinetic analysis showed that V _max and K _m of human placental SEAP were approx 10-fold higher than that of rSEAP, whereas the V _max and K _m of rSEAP prepared using both insect cell lines were comparable. To characterize the recombinant SEAP (rSEAP) glycosylation, the purified rSEAP was digested with PNGase F to release the N-glycan chains. Glycan analysis showed the presence of oligomannose-type N-linked glycans (i.e., Man_2–8 GlcNAc₂ and FucMan_{3 or 4}GlcNAc₂) in rSEAP from Sf9 and Tn-5B1-4 cell lines. The proportions of these oligosaccharide structures were different in the two cell lines. Man₄GlcNAc₂ and FucMan₄GlcNAc₂ were the major rSEAP N-glycans produced in Sf-9 cells, while Man₂GlcNAc₂ was the major rSEAP N-glycan produced in Tn-5B1-4 cells.     

Improved heterologous expression of the white-rot fungal ligninase H8 by crossover linker mutagenesis

Using the crossover-linker mutagenesis method, the 5’ noncoding region of the λML-1 cDNA, which encodes the ligninase H8 isozyme of the white-rot fungus,Phanerochaete chrysosporium, was deleted with the simultaneous insertion of the putativeSpodoptera frugiperda ribosome-binding sequence (RBS) (TATAAAT) directly in front of the translation-initiation codon of this gene. A recombinant baculovirus, pVL-Mu-H8, carrying the ligninase-H8 gene was successfully constructed, as determined by both sequence analysis and dot blot hybridization. A more than 18-fold increase in the expression of ligninase H8, compared to the previous pEV11-1A.3 recombinant baculovirus, was detected in the Sf-21 insect cells. This enzyme was detected within 3 d postinfection and was biologically active, capable of oxidizing the model lignin compound, veratryl alcohol. The molecular weight of the overexpressed 42 kD protein was similar to that of the native fungal ligninase-H8 isozyme and it also reacted specifically with the anti-H8 monoclonal antibody (MAb 2D4.9) in Western blot analysis.     

Cloning, characterization, and expression of a new cry2Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensis strain 14-1

Bacillus thuringiensis is the major source for transfer of genes to impart insect resistance in transgenic plants. Cry2A proteins of B. thuringiensis are promising candidates for management of resistance development in insects owing to their difference from the currently used Cry1A proteins, in structure and insecticidal mechanism. The cry2Ab gene was found to lack a functional promoter and, hence, is cryptic in nature. The cry2Ab7 gene was cloned from a new indigenous B. thuringiensis strain, 14-1. Nucleotide sequencing of the cry2Ab gene cloned from B. thuringiensis strain 14-1 revealed an open reading frame of 1902 bp. The deduced amino acid sequence of Cry2Ab of B. thuringiensis strain 14-1 showed a variation in three amino acid residues in comparison to the holotype sequence, Cry2Ab1. Expression of the newly cloned cry2Ab gene was studied in an acrystalliferous strain of B. thuringiensis (4Q7) by fusing the cry2Ab gene downstream of cry2Aa promoter and orf1+orf2 sequences. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of a spore-crystal mixture obtained from transformants of B. thuringiensis strain 4Q7 showed production of Cry2Ab protein of about 65 kDa. Alkali solubilized Cry2Ab7 protein showed toxicity against Helicoverpa armigera neonates.