Screening and optimization of an efficient Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus inducible promoter.

Pathogen-inducible promoters have been studied extensively and widely used in resistance breeding and gene therapy. However, few reports have been published that explore the efficacy of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV)-inducible promoters in antiviral research in the Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera). Here, we screened BmNPV promoters (VP1054, P33, Bm21, Bm122, 39K, P143, and P6.9) and found that the 39K promoter had the highest BmNPV-induced transcriptional activity by dual-luciferase reporter assays system. By 5' truncation analysis, two regions of 39K promoter were critical for optimal virus-inducible activity, indicated that they could serve as a candidate to produce synthetic pathogen-induced promoters. Furthermore, we enhanced the virus-inducible activity of BmNPV 39K promoter using a hybrid enhancer comprising hr3 and polh-up (designated as HP39K). Finally, we showed that RNAi regulated by HP39K promoter could significantly inhibit the proliferation of BmNPV in silkworm cells. Taken together, our results have practical value in antiviral research of silkworm and baculovirus expression system.

Inhibition of BmNPV replication in silkworm cells using inducible and regulated artificial microRNA precursors targeting the essential viral gene lef-11.

Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is a major silkworm pathogen, causing substantial economic losses to the sericulture industry annually. We demonstrate a novel anti-BmNPV system expressing mature artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs) targeting the viral lef-11 gene. The mature amiRNAs inhibited the lef-11 gene in silkworm BmN-SWU1 cells. Antiviral assays demonstrated that mature amiRNAs silenced the gene and inhibited BmNPV proliferation efficiently. As constitutive overexpression of mature amiRNAs may induce acute cellular toxicity, we further developed a novel virus-induced amiRNA expression system. The amiRNA cassette is regulated by a baculovirus-induced fusion promoter. This baculovirus-induced RNA interference system is strictly regulated by virus infection, which functions in a negative feedback loop to activate the expression of mature amiRNAs against lef-11 and subsequently control inhibition of BmNPV replication. Our study advances the use of a regulatable amiRNA cassette as a safe and effective tool for research of basic insect biology and antiviral application.