Preparation of vesicular stomatitis virus-G (VSV-G) conjugate and its use in gene transfer

The fusiogenic envelope G glycoprotein of the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV-G) that has been used to pseudotype retrovirus and lentivirus vectors can be used alone as an efficient vehicle for gene transfer. VSV-G protein is secreted into the culture medium as sendimentable vesicles from cells transfected with a VSV-G expression plasmid in the absence of other viral components. The VSV-G vesicles in the conditioned medium can be partially purified by pelleting through sucrose cushion ultracentrifugation. Protein-DNA complexes are formed by mixing the VSV-G vesicles with naked plasmid DNA. Such complexes show markedly enhanced transfection efficiency when added to the culture medium of recipient cells. The cell tropism of VSV-G-DNA complex-mediated gene transfer resembles that of VSV-G-pseudotyped retrovirus and lentivirus vectors, and the complex is therefore particularly useful for transfection of cells that are refractory to other methods. Still, some cells are refractory to VSV-G-mediated transfection. It should also be noted that overdose of VSV-G can be quite toxic to the recipient cells. The primitive complexes formed by mixing a viral fusiogenic envelope protein with naked DNA may represent a step toward fusing useful features of viral and nonviral vectors for safer and more efficient gene transfer. This protocol describes simple methods for preparation of VSV-G and for gene transfer with DNA-VSV-G complexes.