Nynke Dekker

Abstract:

To counteract hand, foot, and mouth disease-causing viruses such as enterovirus A71 and coxsackievirus A6, virus-like particles (VLPs) have emerged as a leading contender for the development of a multivalent vaccine. However, VLPs have shown rapid conversion from a highly immunogenic state to a less immunogenic state and low particle integrity lifetimes compared to inactivated virus vaccines, thus raising concerns about their overall stability. Here, we produce VLPs to investigate capsid stability using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), mass spectrometry (MS), biochemical assays, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In contrast to prior studies and prevailing hypotheses, we show that insect-cell produced enterovirus VLPs include encapsidated RNA fragments with viral protein coding sequences. Our integrated approach reveals that CVA6 VLPs do not undergo viral maturation, in contrast to virions; that they can encapsidate RNA fragments, similarly to virions; and that despite the latter, they are more brittle than virions. Interestingly, this indicates that CVA6 VLP stability is more affected by lack of viral maturation than the presence of RNA. Our study highlights how the development of VLPs as vaccine candidates should encompass probing for unwanted (viral) RNA content and establishing control of their maturation to enhance stability.

Abstract:

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) represents an emerging health concern whose main causative agents are Coxsackievirus A6 (CVA6) and enterovirus A71 (EV71). The lack of a CVA6 vaccine and the rise of new HFMD-causing strains due to the containment of established HFMD-causing viruses necessitates the search for alternative vaccine technologies, including virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidates. While studies have demonstrated that production of enterovirus-like particles in various organisms can be achieved by expression of the viral P1 structural proteins and the 3CD protease, optimization based on the interplay between the three most commonly altered infection parameters (multiplicity of infection (MOI), viable cell density at the time of infection (VCD), and the infection period) is often not investigated. To address this challenge, we have performed Design of Experiments (DoE) to optimize the production of CVA6 and EV71 VLPs. Our results indicate that CVA6 VLP production peaks at high MOI, high VCD, and long infection periods. Our subsequent downstream purification processes yielded 38 mg and 158 mg of purified CVA6 and EV71 VLPs from 1 L crude harvest, respectively. This translates into thousands of potential vaccine doses and highlights the economic potential of enterovirus-like particles for vaccine purposes.

Abstract:

Eukaryotes have one replicative helicase known as CMG, which centrally organizes and drives the replisome, and leads the way at the front of replication forks. Obtaining a deep mechanistic understanding of the dynamics of CMG is critical to elucidating how cells achieve the enormous task of efficiently and accurately replicating their entire genome once per cell cycle. Single-molecule techniques are uniquely suited to quantify the dynamics of CMG due to their unparalleled temporal and spatial resolution. Nevertheless, single-molecule studies of CMG motion have thus far relied on pre-formed CMG purified from cells as a complex, which precludes the study of the steps leading up to its activation. Here, we describe a hybrid ensemble and single-molecule assay that allowed imaging at the single-molecule level of the motion of fluorescently labeled CMG after fully reconstituting its assembly and activation from 36 different purified S. cerevisiae polypeptides. This assay relies on the double functionalization of the ends of a linear DNA substrate with two orthogonal attachment moieties, and can be adapted to study similarly complex DNA-processing mechanisms at the single-molecule level.

Abstract:

Integrated single-molecule force-fluorescence spectroscopy setups allow for simultaneous fluorescence imaging and mechanical force manipulation and measurements on individual molecules, providing comprehensive dynamic and spatiotemporal information. Dual-beam optical tweezers (OT) combined with a confocal scanning microscope form a force-fluorescence spectroscopy apparatus broadly used to investigate various biological processes, in particular, protein:DNA interactions. Such experiments typically involve imaging of fluorescently labeled proteins bound to DNA and force spectroscopy measurements of trapped individual DNA molecules. Here, we present a versatile state-of-the-art toolbox including the preparation of protein:DNA complex samples, design of a microfluidic flow cell incorporated with OT, automation of OT-confocal scanning measurements, and the development and implementation of a streamlined data analysis package for force and fluorescence spectroscopy data processing. Its components can be adapted to any commercialized or home-built dual-beam OT setup equipped with a confocal scanning microscope, which will facilitate single-molecule force-fluorescence spectroscopy studies on a large variety of biological systems.

Abstract:

DNA constructs for single-molecule experiments often require specific sequences and/or extrahelical/noncanonical structures to study DNA-processing mechanisms. The precise introduction of such structures requires extensive control of the sequence of the initial DNA substrate. A commonly used substrate in the synthesis of DNA constructs is plasmid DNA. Nevertheless, the controlled introduction of specific sequences and extrahelical/noncanonical structures into plasmids often requires several rounds of cloning on pre-existing plasmids whose sequence one cannot fully control. Here, we describe a simple and efficient way to synthesize 10.1-kb plasmids de novo using synthetic gBlocks that provides full control of the sequence. Using these plasmids, we developed a 1.5-day protocol to assemble 10.1-kb linear DNA constructs with end and internal modifications. As a proof of principle, we synthesize two different DNA constructs with biotinylated ends and one or two internal 3' single-stranded DNA flaps, characterize them using single-molecule force and fluorescence spectroscopy, and functionally validate them by showing that the eukaryotic replicative helicase Cdc45/Mcm2-7/GINS (CMG) binds the 3' single-stranded DNA flap and translocates in the expected direction. We anticipate that our approach can be used to synthesize custom-sequence DNA constructs for a variety of force and fluorescence single-molecule spectroscopy experiments to interrogate DNA replication, DNA repair, and transcription.