Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carla Varanda

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

1. ESAS, Instituto Politécnico de Santarém, Quinta do Galinheiro, S. Pedro, 2001-904 Santarém, Portugal
2. CERNAS-Research Centre for Natural Resources, Environment and Society, Coimbra, Portugal
3. MED–Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE–Global Change and Sustainability Institute, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal
Interests: plant pathology; plant virology; molecular diagnosis of plant pathogens; sustainable plant protection; virus-induced gene silencing; gene expression; CRISPR-Cas systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Patrick Materatski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Laboratory of Virology, MED–Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE–Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal
Interests: plant pathology; plant virology; molecular diagnosis of plant pathogens; sustainable plant protection; RNAi; virus-induced gene silencing; siRNAs; gene expression; CRISPR-Cas systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Viruses are capable of causing devastating diseases in several organisms; however, they are simple systems and can be manipulated to be beneficial and useful for several purposes in different areas. In medicine, they have been used for a long time in vaccines and are now being used as vectors to carry materials for the treatment of diseases, such as cancer, in specific target cells. In agriculture, they are being studied to introduce desirable characteristics in plants or render resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. They have been exploited in nanotechnology for the deposition of specific metals and have been shown to be of great benefit to nanomaterial production. They can also be used for different applications in pharmacology, cosmetics, electronics, and other industries. Additionally, they have been used in gene therapy to deliver specific genes into organisms. Thus, viruses are no longer only seen as bad pathogens. They have shown enormous potential, covering several important areas in our lives, which they are making easier and better. While they have already proved their potential in some industries and areas of research, there is still a long road ahead. In this Special Issue, our aim is to contribute to the current knowledge on virus use and to highlight recent significant advances in the use of viruses in several fields.

Dr. Carla Varanda
Dr. Patrick Materatski
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Related Special Issues

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

22 pages, 4867 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

A Lac Repressor-Inducible Baculovirus Expression Vector for Controlling Adeno-Associated Virus Capsid Ratios

by Jeffrey Slack, Christopher Nguyen and Amanda Ibe-Enwo

Viruses 2024, 16(1), 51; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/v16010051 - 28 Dec 2023

Viewed by 984

Abstract

The baculovirus expression vector (BEV) system is an efficient, cost-effective, and scalable method to produce recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) gene therapy vectors. Most BEV designs emulate the wild-type AAV transcriptome and translate the AAV capsid proteins, VP1, VP2, and VP3, from a single mRNA transcript with three overlapping open reading frames (ORFs). Non-canonical translation initiation codons for VP1 and VP2 reduce their abundances relative to VP3. Changing capsid ratios to improve rAAV vector efficacy requires a theoretical modification of the translational context. We have developed a Lac repressor-inducible system to empirically regulate the expression of VP1 and VP2 proteins relative to VP3 in the context of the BEV. We demonstrate the use of this system to tune the abundance, titer, and potency of a neurospecific rAAV9 serotype derivative. VP1:VP2:VP3 ratios of 1:1:8 gave optimal potency for this rAAV. It was discovered that the ratios of capsid proteins expressed were different than the ratios that ultimately were in purified capsids. Overexpressed VP1 did not become incorporated into capsids, while overexpressed VP2 did. Overabundance of VP2 correlated with reduced rAAV titers. This work demonstrates a novel technology for controlling the production of rAAV in the BEV system and shows a new perspective on the biology of rAAV capsid assembly. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Application of Viruses to Biotechnology 3.0)

► Show Figures