Analysis of Promoter Strength of Autographa californica Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus IE1 Gene by Using Rreconmbinant Baculovirus

To analysis a promoter strength of Atographa californica nucler polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) IE1 gene, an immediate viral gene, ${\beta}$-glactosidase gene as a reporter gene was introduced under the control of the IE1 promoter. The restriction fragment containing IE1 promoter and ${\beta}$-galctosidase gene from pAcIE1-gal were inserter into pBacPAK9 to yield transfer vector pAcNPV-IE1-gal. The pAcNPV-IE1-gal was cotransfected with AcNPV genomic DNA BacPAK6 into Sf9 cells to produce recombinant baculovirus AcNPV-IE1-gal. In addition, recombinant bacvulovirus AcNPV-gal, which express ${\beta}$-galac-tosidase under the control of the polyhedrin promoter, was constrer, was constructed to compared with AcNPV-IE1-gal. The recombinant viruses were respectively infected into Sf9 cells and characterized by the virus titer and expression of ${\beta}$-galactoxidase in Sf9 cells. The promoter strength of IE1 and polyhedrin promoters was determined by the amount of ${\beta}$-galactosidase secreted into medium by viral infection. The titer of AcNPV-IE1-Gal determined by plaque assays in Sf9 cells was similar to that of AcNPV-gal. However, expression level of ${\beta}$-galactosidase by AcNPV-IE1-gal was significantly lower than that by AcNPV-gal. In conclusion, promoter strength of IE1 was approximately 25-fold lower than that of polyhedrin.