A heterologous system for assembly of retroviral gene vectors: intracellular budding in yeast?

Abstract

Mammalian retroviral gene vectors are of particular importance in gene therapy because of their efficient chromosomal integration and resulting stable maintenance of transgenes. These vectors are currently produced in mammalian cells, with low yield and at substantial expense. Therefore, a more efficient heterologous production system for retroviral vectors would be desirable. With their impressive track record in biotechnology, various yeast species appear like ideal organisms to generate retroviral vectors. Typically, retroviral vector particles emerge from mammalian cells after budding at the plasma membrane. However, in yeast, viral budding at the plasma membrane is blocked by the cell wall. At the same time, mass production of enveloped viral vectors in yeast protoplasts is technically challenging. Recent reports indicated the generation of infectious virions via intracellular budding for some combinations of retroviruses and mammalian cells. Relying on these data I hypothesise that a successful assembly of the retroviral transducing particles can be accomplished intracellularly inside yeast cells with a normal cell wall. Firstly, it is possible that some of the intracellular yeast compartments have all the necessary host factors that are required for successful RNA packaging, budding and maturation of infectious retroviral vector particles. Secondly, it might be possible to improve intracellular viral vector production by artificially targeting viral cores to bud at specific intracellular vesicular structures using appropriate targeting or retention signals. A suitable envelope protein, conferring infectivity and specific cellular tropism to the vector particles, can be expressed in yeast or, alternatively, 'bald' viral particles without envelope protein can be produced in yeast and later complexed with a desired envelope protein in vitro. Retroviral budding on yeast intracellular membranes can rely on the same host factors that are used by yeast retrotransposons driving intracellular formation of non-infectious virus-like particles. It is likely that optimal vector packaging system can be found as a result of the dedicated screening of the various retroviral vectors against an array of yeast species. The central implication of the hypothesis is that budding of retroviral vector particles inside yeast cells, with no need for obtaining and maintaining yeast spheroplasts or protoplasts, can be an efficient and economical method of mass production of these valuable gene therapy vectors.