Investigation of Poxvirus Host-Range and Gene Expression in Mammalian Cells
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ABSTRACT Title: INVESTIGATION OF POXVIRUS HOST-RANGE AND GENE EXPRESSION IN MAMMALIAN CELLS. Jorge David Méndez Ríos, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014. Directed By: Dr. Bernard Moss, Chief, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, NIAID, NIH; Adjunct Professor Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland; Members of the Poxviridae family have been known as human pathogens for centuries. Their impact in society included several epidemics that decimated the population. In the last few centuries, Smallpox was of great concern that led to the development of our modern vaccines. The systematic study of Poxvirus host-range and immunogenicity provided the knowledge to translate those observations into practice. After the global vaccination campaign by the World Health Organization, Smallpox was the first infectious disease to be eradicated. Nevertheless, diseases such as Monkeypox, Molluscum contagiosum, new bioterrorist threads, and the use of poxviruses as vaccines or vectors provided the necessity to further understand the host-range from a molecular level. Here, we take advantage of the newly developed technologies such as 454 pyrosequencing and RNA-Seq to address previously unresolved questions for the field. First, we were able to identify the Erytrhomelagia-related poxvirus (ERPV) 25 years after its isolation in Hubei, China. Whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics identified ERPV as an Ectromelia strain closely related to the Ectromelia Naval strain. Second, by using RNA-Seq, the first MOCV in vivo and in vitro transcriptome was generated. New tools have been developed to support future research and for this human pathogen. Finally, deep-sequencing and comparative genomes of several recombinant MVAs (rMVAs) in conjunction with classical virology allowed us to confirm several genes (O1, F5, C17, F11) association to plaque formation in mammalian cell lines. We also provided additional evidence that plaque formation and virus replication can be independent. More importantly, we identified vgf as the first gene outside MVA’s deletion that explains its host-restriction. Replacement of this region with a vgf cassette derived from a replication-competent virus demonstrated to be sufficient to increase viral yield in all mammalian cell lines tested. Several research and clinical applications can be envisioned derived from this work. INVESTIGATION OF POXVIRUS HOST-RANGE AND GENE EXPRESSION IN MAMMALIAN CELLS. By Jorge David Méndez Ríos Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Advisory Committee: Dr. Jeffrey DeStefano, Chair Dr. Bernard Moss, Vice-chair Dr. James Culver, Dean’s Representative Dr. Kim Green Dr. Alison McBride Dr. Donald Nuss © Copyright by Jorge David Mendez Rios 2014 Dedication To my wife, parents, grandparents and mentors which all contributed as the building blocks for my success. To the All Mighty, who keeps bringing new surprises to my life. Aby and Ann, study hard. ii Acknowledgment I want to acknowledge my mentor Dr. Bernard Moss for sharing his knowledge and experience in science and virology. Wisdom and ingenious are two things worth imitating from him. I thank Linda Wyatt for teaching me the basic assays in virology. I also want to acknowledge technical support by Zhilong Yang for the plasmids provided; and Karl Erlandson and Andrea Weisberg for the Electron microscopy done for this work. Thanks also to all the post-docs in the lab from 2009 to 2014 for sharing with me all the little tricks that only experience provides. Thanks to my country, Panama, for all the support provided through SENACYT & IFARHU. iii Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1: Review of Literature ......................................................................................... 1 The Poxviridae ............................................................................................................................. 1 History and epidemiology ....................................................................................................... 1 Virion structure and morphologies .......................................................................................... 4 Genome structure .................................................................................................................... 4 Viral entry ............................................................................................................................... 7 Gene expression ...................................................................................................................... 7 DNA replication .................................................................................................................... 11 Morphogenesis and egress .................................................................................................... 14 Host-range determinants for VACV ...................................................................................... 14 Plaque formation phenotype and its determinants................................................................. 20 Chapter 2: Whole-genome sequencing and identification of the Erythromelalgia-related poxvirus............................................................................................................................. 23 Summary .................................................................................................................................... 23 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 23 Materials and Methods .............................................................................................................. 24 Cells and virus growth ........................................................................................................... 24 Virus purification and DNA extraction ................................................................................. 24 Library preparation and pyrosequencing ............................................................................... 25 Assembly and completion of the genome sequence .............................................................. 25 Genome annotation and ORF comparison ............................................................................ 28 Genome alignment and comparison of ERPV to closest sequences. .................................... 28 Phylogenetic tree of ERPV and other poxviruses. ................................................................ 29 iv Results ....................................................................................................................................... 29 ERPV genome sequence ....................................................................................................... 29 Comparison of ERPV with ECTV genomes ......................................................................... 30 Phylogeny of ERPV and other orthopoxviruses .................................................................... 35 Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 36 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 3: Generation of MOCV transcriptome profile from in vitro and in vivo samples. ........................................................................................................................................... 38 Summary .................................................................................................................................... 38 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 38 Materials and Methods .............................................................................................................. 39 Virus stock preparation ......................................................................................................... 39 Cell culturing and infection ................................................................................................... 40 Electron microscopy evaluation ............................................................................................ 40 Cytopathic effect evaluation .................................................................................................. 41 Plasmids and expression constructs ...................................................................................... 41 RNA extraction and RNASeq library preparation................................................................. 42 Sequencing and quality