Assembly of human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-like particles

Abstract

Viral particles of human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS CoV) consist of three virion structural proteins, including spike protein, membrane protein, and envelope protein. In this report, virus-like particles were assembled in insect cells by the co-infection with recombinant baculoviruses, which separately express one of these three virion proteins. We found that the membrane and envelope proteins are sufficient for the efficient formation of virus-like particles and could be visualized by electron microscopy. Sucrose gradient purification followed by Western blot analysis and immunogold labeling showed that the spike protein could be incorporated into the virus like particle also. The construction of engineered virus-like particles bearing resemblance to the authentic one is an important step towards the development of an effective vaccine against infection of SARS CoV.

The Process of Wrapping Virus Revealed by a Force Tracing Technique and Simulations

“…They are similar to the authentic virus structurally and can mimic authentic virus to elicit strong and broad immune responses; therefore, they are noninfectious and safe for experimentation in ordinary labs 10. Many types of VLPs have been expressed and applied for clinical research, such as Influenza,11 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus12 and Hepatitis B virus,13 and to investigate the interactions between viruses and cells by colocalization and single‐particle tracking 14. Here, we use force tracing technique to directly record the endocytic force and wrapping time of single VLPs via cell membranes.…”

Expression and membrane integration of SARS-CoV E protein and its interaction with M protein

“…Both SARS-CoV M and E proteins are integral membrane proteins, though neither of them contains a conventional signal peptide [10,11]. Expression and membrane integration of SARS-CoV M protein was characterized previously [12].…”

Immune responses induced by a BacMam virus expressing the E2 protein of classical swine fever virus in mice

“…The BacMam viruses provide us with a promising platform to study gene functions and to develop nonreplicating vector vaccines and gene therapy strategies [25][26][27]. Baculovirus vectors are safer than other conventional viral vectors (such as adenovirus), because they do not replicate in mammalian cells and have no marked cellular toxicity.…”