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From 2012.igem.org

Contents 1 Inside Modifications 1.1 Introduction 1.2 CCMV 1.3 Hepatitis B 2 References

Inside Modifications

Introduction

Since virus-like particles (VLPs) lack genetic content, they enclose an empty space. This space can be filled with proteins such as antibiotics, hormones, and all sorts of farmaceuticals. Modifications on the inside of the VLPs can increase binding affinity to the loaded substance. The first modifications we pursue is adding a coil to the protein subunits at any location that is exposed on the inside of the VLP. In our case, this is a fusion to either the N-terminal or the C-terminal. The coils will facilitate strong attachment to the substance which carries the opposite coil. The second modification we aim to make is a change in the interior's charge, which is another way to open up more options for loading our VLPs. Normally, the interior of a VLP is positively charged, facilitating interaction with negatively charged DNA/RNA molecules. By changing the amino acid sequence that is located on the interior of a VLP, the positive charge can be changed into a negative charge. A VLP with a negatively charged interior can be loaded with all sorts of positively charged molecules, such as polymeres, metals, etc.

Our aims are:

Construct a Virus-Like Particle that has coils exposed on the inside.

Construct a Virus-Like Particle that has a negatively charged interior.

CCMV

The Cowpea Chlorotic Mottle Virus (CCMV) VLP is one of the best candidates for drug delivery, since it is tolerant of high temperatures and stable at a certain pH range. Next to that, the wild-type CCMV VLP is not specific for mammalian cells in vivo. Because of the promising properties of the CCMV VLPs, we decided to place coiled-coils on the interior. Since the N-terminus of the CCMV coat protein is folded to the inside of the VLP, this was the logic place to attach the coil. Attachment of a coiled-coils allows the fusion of enormous range of molecules, which are immobilized on the inside of the VLP.

In one of the experiment it was tried to give interior of the CCMV a negative charge. While the wild-type CCMV VLP can not be loaded with positively charged substances, this modified version can.

Results:

This attachment of a coil to the N-terminus of the CCMV VLP subunits was carried out in 3 subsequent PCR steps. Unluckily, the primer of the first step was not designed correctly, resulting in a frameshift over the entire VLP, making this construct useless. We discovered this on the 18th of September, when receiving our sequencing results.

Constructing a CCMV VLP with a negative charge was facilitated by 4 subsequent PCR steps. Luckily, this construct was finished in august and we were able to place an IPTG promoter combined with an RBS site in front of it. The next step was to produce VLPs with this new construct, which succeeded. In figure 1 a highly magnified image is shown of such a VLP with a negative interior.

As a proof of concept, the CCMV VLPs with a negative interior were loaded with iron ions and monitored using electron microscopy. Unluckily, the samples were highly contaminated, which made it impossible to pinpoint any present VLPs. In figure 2 an image is shown of such a sample in which there is lots of contamination.

Hepatitis B

Deletions as well as modifications to the C-terminal of the Hepatitis B core protein are possible since this part of the protein is not important for VLP formation [1]. Knowing this we can assume that the fusion of a K-coil to the C-terminal will lead to the formation of a VLP with a coil presented on the inside. To obtain the maximal amount of space in the VLP capsule we decided to delete a part of the C-terminal that is normally used for DNA binding and not required for VLP folding. After looking at protein folding predictions it was decided to add a short flexible linker between coil and core protein instead. This modification was carried out in 4 PCR steps extending our construct one step at a time.

Results:

After some problems with the last step of the PCR reaction a product with the correct length was obtained. Unfortunately the ligation into a vector and transformation with E. coli did not succeed yet.

References

1. Beterams, G., Böttcher B., & Nassal M. (15. Sept 2000). Packaging of up to 240 subunits of a 17 kDa nuclease into the interior of recombinant hepatitis B virus capsids. FEBS Lett., S. 169-76.