In vivo and in vitro analyses of recombinant baculoviruses lacking a functional cg30 gene

A L Passarelli, L K Miller
1994 Journal of Virology  
The cg3O gene of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcMNPV) encodes two sequence motifs, a zinc finger-like motif and a leucine zipper, found in other polypeptides known to be involved in gene regulation. To gain insight into the function of the cg3O product, CG30, we constructed and characterized recombinant viruses lacking a functional cg3O gene. We found that cg3O mutants had no striking phenotype in cell lines derived from Spodoptera frugiperda or Trichoplusia ni or in T. ni
more » ... larvae. Although cg3O is known to be transcribed as an early monocistronic RNA and as the second cistron of an abundant late bicistronic RNA, production of a CG30-},-galactosidase fusion protein was observed mainly at early times postinfection. Viruses containing cg3O had a subtle growth advantage over those lacking cg3O after several viral passages in cell culture. We employed transient expression assays to determine whether cg3O and pe-38, an AcMNPV gene that encodes a polypeptide with zinc finger-like and leucine zipper motifs similar to those of cg3O, have redundant functions. Although pe-38 may have a role in AcMNPV gene expression, there was no indication that cg3O and pe-38 are functionally redundant.
doi:10.1128/jvi.68.2.1186-1190.1994 fatcat:iaqunwg6znglbglvcncgw45c6a