title: Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus BmP95 plays an essential role in budded virus production and nucleocapsid assembly.
abstract: Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) BmP95 is a highly conserved gene that is found in all of the baculovirus genomes sequenced to date and is also found in nudiviruses. To investigate the role of BmP95 in virus infection in vitro, a BmP95 deletion virus (vBmP95-De) was generated by homologous recombination in Escherichia coli. Fluorescence and light microscopy and titration analysis indicated that the BmP95 deletion bacmid led to a defect in production of infectious budded virus (BV). However, deletion of BmP95 did not affect viral DNA replication. Electron microscopy showed that masses of aberrant tubular structures were present in cells transfected with the BmP95 deletion bacmid, indicating that deletion of BmP95 affected assembly of the nucleocapsid. This defect could be rescued by insertion of full-length BmP95 into the polyhedrin locus of the BmP95-knockout bacmid but not the N-terminal domain of BmP95. Together, these results showed that full-length BmP95 is essential for BV production and is required for nucleocapsid assembly.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Xingwei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Yunwang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaolong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D012831:Bombyx / Q000821:virology*; D002460:Cell Line; D004261:DNA Replication; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D017353:Gene Deletion; D020043:Genes, Essential; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D019251:Nucleocapsid / Q000378:metabolism*; D017924:Nucleopolyhedroviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014162:Transfection; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019065:Virus Assembly; D057074:Virus Release
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins