| Summary: Basement membranes that surround the tissues of lepidopterous larvae act as physical barrier to the movement of viruses. Therefore, one of the potential approaches is to use the enzymes that disrupt the basement membrane proteins in biological control of agricultural pest insects. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases that have the combined capacity to degrade all the components of the extracellular matrix. Chilo iridescent virus (CIV) genome contains two genes (165R and 136R) encoding proteins with zinc-dependent MMP domains. These genes contain over 40% amino acid sequence identity to hypothetical metallopeptidases of other viruses.
In this study open reading frames 165R and 136R in CIV genome were amplified and cloned into the pFastBacHT transfer vectors, individually. The transfer vectors were used at generating the bacmids carrying these genes. The bacmids DNA’s carrying CIV genes were transfected to the Sf9 cells in order to produce the recombinant baculoviruses. The produced baculoviruses were used for high-level expression of recombinant proteins. Expressed proteins were confirmed by western blot analysis. Expressed proteins distrupted the protease substrates Azocoll and Azo-casein.
Obtained results showed that CIV 136R and 165R genes encode functional metalloproteinases which have usage potential in biological control of lepidopteran pests.
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