Construction and application of a baculovirus genomic library

A random genomic library of the baculovirus Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) was constructed and viral factors were identified by screening the regulator(s) for helicase gene expression. DNAs of 238 library plasmids were used to co-transfect with the reporter plasmid, pHp510-luc, in which the luciferase (luc) gene was driven by the baculovirus helicase promoter. Results showed that eight plasmids of the library strengthened the luciferase activity more than 1000-fold. Sequence analyses revealed that all of the eight plasmids contained an intact ie-1 coding region. To confirm the reliability of the screening library, pHp510-luc was co-transfected with the cloned early gene which revealed that the BmNPV IE-1 was the only early factor that could stimulate the helicase promoter. The function analyses suggested that genome-wide screening factors through the library are powerful means to investigate the transcriptional regulation of dsDNA viruses.