Construction of lentiviral vectors of shRNA targeting human APRIL gene

Objective To construct small hairpin RNA(shRNA) lentiviral vectors targeting human a proliferation-inducing ligand(APRIL) gene and detect the titer of virus and suitable multiplicity of infection (MOI) after 293T cells were infected by the lentival vectors. Methods Three RNA interference targeting sequences of APRIL gene were screened including shAPRIL1210, shAPRIL1754 and shAPRIL1604. Both sense and antisense Oligo DNA of the targeting sequences were synthesized and cloned into the pGCL-GFP vector, respectively. The resulting lentiviral vectors containing shAPRIL were named LV-shAPRIL1210, LV-shAPRIL1754, LV-shAPRILI604. Then they were confirmed by PCR and DNA sequencing. 293T cells were co-transfected with LV-shAPRIL, pHelper 1.0 and pHelper 2. 0 to product lentivirus, respectively. The titer of virus and suitable MOI were tested according to the expression level of GFP in the 293T cells. Results PCR analysis and DNA sequencing confirmed that three shAPRIL DNA were successfully inserted into the lentiviral vectors. The titers of concentrated virus were 5 × 107, 6 × 107 and 4 × 107(transduction units )TU/ml, respectively, and the suitable MOI was 5. Conclusions Three shRNA lentiviral vectors targeting human APRIL gene have been successfully constructed, which lays a foundation for future studying APRIL's gene silencing in related target cells. Key words: Lentivirus;  Membrane proteins;  Tumor necrosis factors;  RNA,small interfering; Genetic vectors