The invention relates to retroviral producer cells comprising nucleic acid sequences encoding: gag and pol proteins; envelope protein or a functional substitute thereof; and the RNA genome of the retroviral vector particle, wherein said nucleic acid sequences are all located at a single locus within the retroviral producer cell genome.

The present invention relates to methods and uses for screening anti-hepadnaviral substances, wherein the substances are screened for the capacity to inhibit covalently closed circular (ccc) DNA of a hepadnavirus, like hepatitis B virus. The methods and uses take advantage of cells comprising a nucleic sequence encoding a tagged hepadnavirus e antigen, like Hepatitis B virus e antigen (HBeAg). Furthermore, the present invention provides nucleic acid sequences encoding a tagged hepadnavirus e antigen and proteins encoded thereby. Also kits for use in the screening methods are provided.

Compositions include modified adenoviruses. Nucleotides, cells, and methods associated with the compositions, including their use as vaccines. Viral vectors using a TET promoter system and methods of producing viruses having the same.

The present disclosure discloses a Bacillus subtilis efficiently-induced expression system based on an artificial series promoter, and belongs to the technical field of gene engineering. According to the present disclosure, an efficient artificial series constitutive promoter is used, and by compositely designing the promoter and elements (a repressor and a binding site thereof) relevant to an operon, the activity of the constitutive promoter is regulated and controlled by an inducer to finally construct the B. subtilis efficiently-induced expression system induced by the inducer. The result indicates that compared with a P.sub.43 strongly constitutive promoter, the activity of the artificial series promoter in the system is about 15 times higher. The activity of the promoter can be accurately controlled by adding different concentrations of inducers. Therefore, the efficient expression system is simple in structure, high in activity and strict in regulating and controlling and has wide application prospects in heterologous protein efficient expression and synthetic biology research.

The present invention relates to methods and uses for screening anti-hepadnaviral substances, wherein the substances are screened for the capacity to inhibit covalently closed circular (ccc) DNA of a hepadnavirus, like hepatitis B virus. The methods and uses take advantage of cells comprising a nucleic sequence encoding a tagged hepadnavirus e antigen, like Hepatitis B virus e antigen (HBeAg). Furthermore, the present invention provides nucleic acid sequences encoding a tagged hepadnavirus e antigen and proteins encoded thereby. Also kits for use in the screening methods are provided.

The invention provides methods and compositions for the expression of small RNA molecules within a cell using a lentiviral vector. The methods can be used to express doubles stranded RNA complexes. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) can be expressed using the methods of the invention within a cell, which is capable of down regulating the expression of a target gene through RNA interference. A variety of cells can be treated according to the methods of the invention including embryos, embryogenic stem cells, allowing for the generation of transgenic animals or animals constituted partly by the transduced cells that have a specific gene or a group of genes down regulated.

The invention provides a method of propagating an adenoviral vector. The method comprises (a) providing a cell comprising a cellular genome comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a tetracycline operon repressor protein (tetR), and (b) contacting the cell with an adenoviral vector comprising a heterologous nucleic acid sequence encoding a toxic protein. The heterologous nucleic acid sequence is operably linked to a promoter and one or more tetracycline operon operator sequences (tetO), and expression of the heterologous nucleic acid sequence is inhibited in the presence of tetR, such that the adenoviral vector is propagated. The invention also provides a system comprising the aforementioned cell and adenoviral vector.

The invention provides an AoHV-1 promoter for use with plasmid vectors, viral vectors, viruses, and cell lines comprising the AoHV-1 promoter operably linked to a transgene. The invention also provides methods of making and using recombinant plasmid vectors, viral vectors, viruses, and cell lines comprising the AoHV-1 promoter operably linked to a transgene.

The invention provides methods for reprogramming somatic cells to generate multipotent or pluripotent cells. Such methods are useful for a variety of purposes, including treating or preventing a medical condition in an individual. The invention further provides methods for identifying an agent that reprograms somatic cells to a less differentiated state.

A Cas9 expression plasmid, a genome editing system and a genome editing method for Escherichia coli are provided. The Cas9 expression plasmid includes a tracrRNA sequence, a Cas9 gene and a chloramphenicol resistance gene (Cm.sup.R). The Cas9 expression plasmid is applied to CRISPR/Cas-coupled -red recombineering system for editing genomes of E. coli with high efficiency.