Canadian Forest Service Publications
Construction and Rescue of a Functional Synthetic Baculovirus. 2017. Shang, Y.; Wang, M.; Xiao, G.; Wang, X.; Hou, D.; Pan, K.; Liu, S.; Li, J.; Wang, J.; Arif, B.M.; Vlak, J.M.; Chen, X.; Wang, H.; Deng, F.; Hu, Z. ACS Synthetic Biology 6(7):1393-1402.
Year: 2017
Issued by: Great Lakes Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 39229
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.7b00028
† This site may require a fee
Plain Language Summary
Synthetic viruses provide a powerful platform to delve deeper into the nature and function of viruses as well as to engineer viruses with novel properties. So far, most synthetic viruses have been RNA viruses and small DNA viruses, such as bacteriophage phiX174. Baculoviruses contain a large circular dsDNA genome and have been used as biocontrol agents and protein expression vectors. Here, we report on the first synthesis of a baculovirus based on the type species. We validated a proof of concept that a bona fide baculovirus can be synthesized. The new platform allows manipulation at any or multiple loci and will facilitate future studies such as identifying the minimal baculovirus genome and construction of better expression vectors. This is the largest DNA virus synthesized so far, and its success is likely to be the impetus to stimulate the fields of other large DNA viruses such as herpesviruses and poxviruses.
