Journal: Microbiology Spectrum
Article Title: Development and characterization of a double-fluorescent HIV-1 reporter cellular model to tackle the Rev-dependent export pathway
doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01903-24
Figure Lengend Snippet: Construction and validation of pHIV-dual vector. ( A ) The mko2 gene was inserted into the intronic region of the pHIV_Intro construct at the SpeI and BstBI restriction sites, positioned just after the truncated gag gene. In the absence of Rev, the unspliced HIV-1 RNA undergoes splicing, resulting in a short, spliced transcript that contains the ecfp gene, leading to the expression of the ECFPskl protein. When Rev is present, it binds to the RRE sequence located within the intronic sequence, facilitating the export of the unspliced transcript from the nucleus and resulting in the expression of the mKO2 protein. ( B ) U2OS cells were transfected with the viral vectors and pTat-101, both in the absence and presence of the pRev-GFP vector. Twenty-four hours post-transfection, total RNA was isolated, and RT-qPCR was conducted to measure levels of unspliced, spliced, and TAR-containing total RNAs (primers are listed in ). Values were normalized using GAPDH mRNA primers and are presented as fold changes relative to the samples without Rev, which were arbitrarily set to a value of 1. Results are displayed as mean values ± standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis was performed using the t -test with Welch correction from three biological replicates ( N = 3), with two technical replicates each. Significance is indicated as follows: ns, not significant and ** P -value < 0.05. ( C ) Immunoblotting was performed to detect mKO2 and ECFP levels in untransfected (mock) cells and cells transfected with the pHIV_dual vector, using two doses of the Tat-expressing plasmid, with or without the plasmid encoding Rev. GAPDH was used as a loading control.
Article Snippet: Immunoblots were performed as described before ( ) with the following antibodies: mKO2 (Medical and Biological Laboratories, PM051M, 1:500), GFP (St. John’s Laboratory, STJ140006, 1:1,000), MATR3 (Sigma-Aldrich, MABN1587, 1:1,000), CRNKL1 (NovoPro Bioscience, #175347-50, 1:1,000), GAPDH (Cell Signaling Technology, 14C10, 1:4,000), anti-rabbit-HRP (Sigma-Aldrich, A0545, 1:20,000), and anti-mouse-HRP (Dako, P0447, 1:20,000).
Techniques: Biomarker Discovery, Plasmid Preparation, Construct, Expressing, Sequencing, Transfection, Isolation, Quantitative RT-PCR, Western Blot, Control