Recombinant Baculovirus: A Flexible Drug Screening Platform for Chikungunya Virus

Abstract

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted infectious agent that causes an endemic or epidemic outbreak(s) of Chikungunya fever that is reported in almost all countries. This virus is an intense global threat, due to its high rate of contagion and the lack of effective remedies. In this study, we developed two baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS)-based approaches for the screening of anti-CHIKV drugs in Spodoptera frugiperda insect (Sf21) cells and U-2OS cells. First, structural protein of CHIKV was co-expressed through BEVS and thereby induced cell fusion in Sf21 cells. We used an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) to co-express the green fluorescent protein (EGFP) for identifying these fusion events. The EGFP-positive Sf21 cells fused with each other and with uninfected cells to form syncytia. We identified that ursolic acid has potential anti-CHIKV activity in vitro, by using this approach. Second, BacMam virus-based gene delivery has been successfully applied for the transient expression of non-structural proteins with a subgenomic promoter-EGFP (SP-EGFP) cassette in U-2OS cells to act as an in vitro CHIKV replicon system. Our BacMam-based screening system has identified that the potential effects of baicalin and baicalein phytocompounds can inhibit the replicon activity of CHIKV in U-2OS cells. In conclusion, our results suggested that BEVS can be a potential tool for screening drugs against CHIKV.

Porphyrin-derived carbon dots for an enhanced antiviral activity targeting the CTD of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid

“…The limited number of adequate research facilities is a serious bottleneck in the discovery of new drugs, especially for lower-middle-income countries. For those reasons, various alternative high-throughput platforms—using synthetic peptide [ 5 ], recombinant virus [ 6 ], virus-like particle (VLP) [ 7 ], and engineered bacteria [ 8 ]—have been developed to screen potential drug candidates in more effective and efficient ways.…”

Identification of the Key Functional Domains of Bombyx mori Nucleopolyhedrovirus IE1 Protein

“…According to the host species and morphology of the virions, baculoviridae is divided into four genera, Alpha-baculovirus (lepidopteran nucleopolyhedrovirus), Beta-baculovirus (lepidopteran granulovirus), Gamma-baculovirus (hymenopteran nucleopolyhedrovirus), and Delta-baculovirus (dipteran nucleopolyhedrovirus). Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) and Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) are two representative species of Baculoviridae that are widely used as protein expression tools or gene delivery vectors for protein production, drug screening, and gene therapy [ 3 , 4 ]. As the host species of baculoviruses are mostly agricultural and forestry pests, baculoviruses have also been exploited as biological pesticides [ 5 , 6 ].…”