Stable retrovirus and methods of use
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
InventorsHalong N. Vu, Daniel W. Pack, Joshua Ramsey
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Abstract
The present invention is a mutant retroviral protease which confers an increase in retroviral stability. Retroviruses expressing the instant mutant retroviral protease exhibit at least a 2-fold increase in infectivity half-life as compared to wild-type retrovirus. Unexpectedly, a Gly119Glu mutation in the protease enhances retroviral stability in the presence of various wild-type envelope proteins including wild-type amphotropic, ecotropic and 10A1 murine leukemia viruses. The improved stability of the mutant retrovirus leads to more facile virus production and enhanced infection efficiency.
Claims5
A mutant retroviral protease comprising an amino acid substitution at position 119 of SEQ ID NO:1, or a structural and functional homolog thereof, wherein said mutant retroviral protease increases the stability of a retrovirus.
A method for generating a stable mutant retrovirus comprising generating a mutant library of a parental retrovirus and selecting for a stable mutant virus comprising a mutant protease thereby generating a stable mutant retrovirus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.