The Sequence Analysis
and in Vitro Cleavage by Ribozymes of a Putative Early and Late Transcription
Gene of the Prawn Baculovirus
ZHOU Guo-Ying, WU Jian-Hua, SHEN Xue-Ren, GONG Zu-Xun*
( Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Shanghai 200031, China )
Abstract Since 1993
there has been outbreak of an acute lethal disease of the cultivated fleshy
prawns (Penaeus
chinesis, Osbeck) in China. After a short period of intensive studies we
reported firstly the presence of a non-occluded baculovirus in the tissue of
diseased prawns. The virus was also named as white spot syndrome baculovirus by
some authors. Here, it is reported that, based on sequence analysis, an early
and late transcription gene(1 197bp gene)of baculovirus was identified. Two
hammerhead ribozymes RZ1 and RZ2 targeting the 54―56 bp and 314―316 bp of the 1
197 bp gene were designed, and in vitro cleavage experiments showed that under
proper conditions the target gene could be completely cleaved by those
ribozymes together or separately.
Key words white spot syndrome
baculovirus； early and
late transcription gene； hammerhead
ribozyme
Received:
November 12, 1999 Accepted: December 30, 1999
* Corresponding author: Tel, 86-21-64374430-220; Fax,
86-21-64746510; e-mail, [email protected]