Investigation of plant virus-like particle formation in bacterial and yeast expression systems

Abstract

Virus-like particles (VLPs) have garnered significant attention due to their potential applications in various fields, particularly in biomedicine, where they are used for drug delivery, vaccine development, and as diagnostic tools. Plant virus-derived VLPs have been especially successful, leading to a surge in research aimed at developing new VLPs. Despite this growing interest, not all attempts at VLP formation are successful. Understanding the factors that contribute to successful VLP assembly is crucial for advancing this field. In this study, we focus on the coat proteins (CPs) of three plant viruses belonging to the Sobemovirus genus as a model to investigate the process of VLP formation. Our findings demonstrated that the strong binding of CPs to ssDNA can be a major reason for unsuccessful VLP production. This issue can potentially be overcome by transitioning from an episomal to a chromosome-integrated expression system. By doing so, we aim to elucidate the mechanisms that facilitate successful VLP assembly. Our findings provide valuable insights into the properties of sobemovirus CPs and highlight their potential for encapsulating foreign nucleic acids, thereby providing additional applications as nanocontainers or vaccine platforms with interior modification capabilities for enhanced immune response. Moreover, our RNA-Seq data indicates that sobemovirus-derived VLPs predominantly package their CP mRNA, irrespective of the expression system used. This characteristic can be utilized for the functional encapsulation of nucleic acids, enhancing the versatility and utility of these VLPs in various biotechnological applications.