title: Transcription of dbp from the coding region of the Bm17 gene is required for the efficient propagation of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus.
abstract: A Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) mutant was generated, in which Bm17 was disrupted by the insertion of a lacZ reporter cassette. This mutant (Bm17D) exhibited defective phenotypes, i.e., budded viruses (BVs) and occlusion bodies (OBs) were less produced in both B. mori cultured cells and larvae. However, a repair virus (Bm17DR), lacking endogenous Bm17 but expressing Bm17 with its endogenous promoter at a different genomic locus, did not rescue most of the defective phenotypes of Bm17D. Transcriptional units in the Bm17 region were surveyed in detail using a transcriptome map of BmNPV-infected cells. It was found that one of the transcriptional start sites (TSSs) of dbp (Bm16) is located within the Bm17 coding region and that it does not likely function in the genome of Bm17D- or Bm17DR by inserting a lacZ cassette. From the obtained results, it was shown that both dbp transcription and DBP protein expression were markedly reduced in Bm17D- or Bm17DR-infected cells. This indicates that reduced dbp transcription alone results in decreased BV and OB production during BmNPV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. Electronic address: katsuma@ss.ab.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katsuma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D012831:Bombyx / Q000821:virology; D002460:Cell Line; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D007814:Larva / Q000821:virology; D017924:Nucleopolyhedroviruses / Q000502:physiology*; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins
keywords: Baculovirus; Bm17; BmNPV; DBP; NPV