Mass identification of transcriptional units expressed from the Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus genome

Susumu Katsuma, WonKyung Kang, Tadasu Shin-i, Kazuko Ohishi, Koji Kadota, Yuji Kohara, Toru Shimada

¹Department of Agricultural and Environmental Biology, University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan

²Molecular Entomology Laboratory, RIKEN ASI, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako 351-0198, Japan

³Center for Genetic Resource Information, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima 411-8540, Japan

⁴Agricultural Bioinformatics Research Unit, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan

Correspondence
Susumu Katsuma
katsuma{at}ss.ab.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Abstract

In order to identify the transcriptional units expressed from an entire nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) genome during infection, we constructed a full-length-enriched cDNA library from Bombyx mori NPV (BmNPV)-infected BmN cells. We randomly sequenced 11 520 clones from both ends to obtain a total of 4679 BmNPV-derived transcriptional units. The data revealed a number of novel transcripts, including putative non-coding RNAs, most of which are expressed from recognized baculovirus early or late promoter motifs. These findings provide new insights into the complex transcriptional regulation of an NPV genome and suggest roles for as-yet-uncharacterized transcripts.