Analysis of the Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus ie-1 promoter in insect, mammalian, plant, and bacterial cells

• Published in: Biochemical and biophysical research communications 2015-09, Vol.464 (4), p.1297-1301
• Main Authors: Fujita, Ryosuke, Ono, Chikako, Ono, Isamu, Asano, Shin-ichiro, Bando, Hisanori
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Baculoviridae; Baculovirus; Base Sequence; Bombyx - genetics; Bombyx mori NPV; Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - genetics; Evolution, Molecular; Host range; Insect; Insect Hormones - genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Neuropeptides - genetics; Nicotiana - genetics; Nucleopolyhedroviruses - genetics; Promoter; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics
• ISSN: 0006-291X; 1090-2104
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2015.07.126

The Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) ie-1 promoter exhibits strong transcriptional activity and is used in transient foreign gene expression systems in insect cells. In a reporter assay experiment using the BmNPV ie-1 promoter, we found that it exhibited activity even in non-host mammalian BHK cells, plant BY-2 cells, and also bacterial Escherichia coli cells. An analysis using a deletion series of the BmNPV ie-1 promoter demonstrated that the core promoter region of this promoter was sufficient to display promoter activity in BHK cells, BY-2 cells, and E. coli cells, whereas upstream elements were required for higher activity in insect cells. Furthermore, we found that the BmNPV ie-1 promoter exhibited sufficient activity for a β-galactosidase assay in E. coli cells. The results obtained here suggest that the BmNPV ie-1 promoter has potential as a universal promoter for transient expression systems in insect, mammalian, plant, and bacterial cells. •We determined functional elements of the ie-1 promoter.•Core promoter sequence of the ie-1 promoter functions in variety of cells.•The ie-1 promoter is available for gene expression even in E. coli cells.