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  • Cell-to-cell and genome-to-genome variability of adenovirus transcription tuned by the cell cycle.

Cell-to-cell and genome-to-genome variability of adenovirus transcription tuned by the cell cycle.

Journal of cell science (2020-09-13)
Maarit Suomalainen, Vibhu Prasad, Abhilash Kannan, Urs F Greber
ABSTRACT

In clonal cultures, not all cells are equally susceptible to virus infection, and the mechanisms underlying this are poorly understood. Here, we developed image-based single-cell measurements to scrutinize the heterogeneity of adenovirus (AdV) infection. AdV delivers, transcribes and replicates a linear double-stranded DNA genome in the nucleus. We measured the abundance of viral transcripts using single-molecule RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and the incoming 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxycytidine (EdC)-tagged viral genomes using a copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (click) reaction. Surprisingly, expression of the immediate early gene E1A only moderately correlated with the number of viral genomes in the cell nucleus. Intranuclear genome-to-genome heterogeneity was found at the level of viral transcription and, in accordance, individual genomes exhibited heterogeneous replication activity. By analyzing the cell cycle state, we found that G1 cells exhibited the highest E1A gene expression and displayed increased correlation between E1A gene expression and viral genome copy numbers. The combined image-based single-molecule procedures described here are ideally suited to explore the cell-to-cell variability in viral gene expression in a range of different settings, including the innate immune response.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
Dulbecco′s Modified Eagle′s Medium - high glucose, With 4500 mg/L glucose, L-glutamine, sodium pyruvate, and sodium bicarbonate, liquid, sterile-filtered, suitable for cell culture
Sigma-Aldrich
RPMI-1640 Medium, Modified, with 20 mM HEPES and L-glutamine, without sodium bicarbonate, liquid, sterile-filtered, suitable for cell culture
Sigma-Aldrich
Penicillin-Streptomycin, with 10,000 units penicillin and 10 mg streptomycin per mL in 0.9% NaCl, 0.1 μm filtered, BioReagent, suitable for cell culture
Sigma-Aldrich
Bovine Serum Albumin, lyophilized powder, BioReagent, suitable for cell culture
Sigma-Aldrich
MEM Non-essential Amino Acid Solution (100×), without L-glutamine, liquid, sterile-filtered, BioReagent, suitable for cell culture